Iris Jorgensen

Mr. Frampton
Exploratory Art
4 January 2017
Wolfgang Beltracchi the Robin Hood of Art
Wolfgang Beltracchi is one of the world's most famous art forgers. He
eventually admitted to forging over a hundred paintings in his lifetime. The
international fraud caused the art industry millions of euros. With the help of his
wife and friend Mark Feider they were able to sell forgeries, but pass them as
original work by famous artist like Max Ernst, Heinrich Campendonk, and Fernand
Leger to name a few. Although he is an art forger his own work has been praised
numerous times as the Robin Hood of art, there is no doubt that he has the skills
to create his own personal masterpieces.
Wolfgang Fischer was born on the fourth of February in 1951. For his childhood, he
grew up in Geilenkirchen, Germany. His father was the one to introduce him into an
artist's world, as his father was a restorer and muralist. He was a natural at it,
taking after his father. At only fourteen years old he copied a Pablo Picasso. While it
was obvious that he had talent, he had developed bad habits and was expelled from
school at seventeen for drug use. His parents sent his to school in Aachen. In his
new school he still used heavy drugs. According to his own statements he used LSD
and opium. High on drugs and facing financial difficulties he began to use his talents
for forgeries, promising to only sell a few, but his drug use had made it hard to hold
on to money for long. He had started down a slippery slope with no sign of stopping.

Fernand Leger forgery by Wolfgang Beltracchi

With the success of his first forgeries he began to travel through Europe,
living in Amsterdam, Morocco, Spain, and France. He furthered his knowledge of the
arts with a partner in the 1980s. Together they opened an art gallery. The two had a
falling out as his partner began accusing him of burglary and even stealing
paintings from his house. Today he still denies the accusations, but is grateful
because they promoted him to move on and two years later he met Helene
Beltracchi in 1992. The next year they married and he adopted her surname.
Together they would become the most well-known forges of the century.
While their success grew, they became aware of a problem: how to explain
their rather large collection of priceless art pieces. The couple said that the large art

collection had been amassed over the years by his family. They began to create old
photographs as proof. Wolfgang admitted to making glue for the collectors label
himself, using bones and organic material so no one would notice. Helen would
take the photos along with her when she went to sell them. She announced that her
talent was to be the actress, she had to have a good story to go along with the
painting in order to sell it for millions. Wolfgang and Helene made a habit of going to
art shows where at times they would see one of their numerous foreigners. In 2009
at an art gallery he saw his painting. It was being sold for $2.2 million. They both
agree that seeing one of their own in these famous art galleries is an exciting
feeling. There are still about 150 of his paintings still unaccounted for, but most
would rather stay silent if they have a Beltracchi original, millions of dollars are on
the line.

Helene Beltracchi posing as her grandmother in a fake photograph.

Wolfgang and his wife Helene at his art exhibition in Munich

Wolfgang and Helene were enjoying the fruit of their labor. They owned homes
across Europe, a vineyard, and a yacht. But things went downhill from there. In
2008 Dr. Nicholas Eastaugh, a British expert in the scientific analysis of paintings
was asked to analyze a Heinrich Campendonk. The piece was meant to be made in
1915, but Dr. Eastaugh found a problem in the painting material. The painting was
brought to his lad at first because there was a number of questions over the
authenticity. He discovered the pigment used was titanium white, which had not
been created in 1915. Dr. Eastaugh said he always gets a thrill when he can help
bring in an art forger down. Soon after around fifty more of Wolfgang's paintings
were discovered as forgeries.

Wolfgang Beltracchi and his lawyer Reinhard on the first day of his trial.
In 2011 after a long trial Wolfgang Beltracchi was sentenced to six years in prison.
His wife was sentenced five years. They were both set back to Germany to serve the
punishment. While in prison he still continued his art work by drawing portraits of
the others. In 2014 a year before his release a Swiss Gallerist sold out an exhibition
featuring Wolfgangs art. The gallery was expelled From the Swiss are dealers
association, but the gallery made $737,000 in just under three weeks. There are
many who consider Wolfgang as a criminal who does not deserve the distinction of
artiste, but many recognize this painters extraordinary talent.
Now that he has served his time he is an avid painter whose work is being sold for
thousands, but he owes over 20 million dollars to make up for his scam. A liquidator
has collected all his assets. He was released in January 2015 and his wife Helene

was released in February 2014, both were able to leave early. Although he is
relatively poor after the ordeal he says he would not change what happened and
the consequences he faced. In 2015 a documentary came out featuring his story
termed the Art of Forgery in it he tells of his experiences. He told them that he is
glad that he can now write his own name after painting undercover for three in a
half decades. Although he is a convicted art criminal Wolfgang Beltracchi is slowly
working to regain his former lifestyle, but this time by creating works that combine
the past and present techniques together to make something new. In every piece
his signature is different and he take bits of other artists works to create his own. He
wants to paint something different each time because it is boring to always paint
the same thing. He stated though that his only stipulation is he will never use
titanium white again.