Lots more on the fake Gauguin at the Art Institute of Chicago, mentioned here yesterday. The Chicago Sun-Times says the piece "is one of hundreds of art forgeries by Shaun Greenhalgh of Bolton, England, who was sentenced to more than four years in a British prison last month." The Art Newspaper reports that it was sold for £20,700 in 1994 at Sotheby's in London to a pair of London dealers, who then sold it to the Art Institute a few years later for "around $125,000." Derek Fincham wrote about the Greenhalgh family of art forgers last month. Megan McArdle is baffled by the whole thing.
The Sun-Times says "museum officials are in discussions with the dealer and Sotheby's about being compensated," and The Art Newspaper says "Sotheby’s is now expected to reimburse the Art Institute of Chicago." I don't know what the law is in the U.K., but in the U.S. the auction houses typically guarantee the authenticity of works only for five years from the date of sale.
UPDATE: Thursday's New York Times has this story by Carol Vogel.
