308 
printed engraving, others who patch up with old cloth, 
paintings that they have torn; art furniture makers who im- 
part a coat of patina to various ornaments, or who embel- 
lish with finely carved bronze articles of common origin. 
There is hardly an object of interest to the archeologist or 
collector of curios that has not 
furnished a field for the work of 
the counterfeiter, from the stone 
implements handed down to us 
as a relic of a prehistoric age, to 
Etruscan vases and other arche- 
ological marvels of which cer- 
tain experts in the art of mim- 
icry make a highly remunerative 
specialty. In certain of the 
show cases of the Musée de 
Saint Germain are exhibited 
pseudo-specimens of lamps, pur- 
porting to originate from the 
catacombs, and false seals em- 
ployed for marking the rough 
Roman pottery made from a red 
clay. There also stands a cruse 
of venerable appearance, of 
which the only authentic part is 
the neck, the remainder being 
formed from pasteboard. Europe holds no monopoly of 
these mystifying ceramic products. The Indians in the sub- 
urbs of Mexico carry on an extensive manufacture of Aztec 
pottery adorned with grotesque caricatures. These somewhat 
crude professionals do not even take the trouble to copy an- 
tiques, they simply carve quaint human figures with eyes and 
mouth formed of inlaid obsidian, uncouth animals, and vari- 
ous designs composed of concentric circles and transverse 
lines produced by the impression of a flexible reed. Serpents 
are modeled 
rm a 
to serve as 
handles. i ‘ 
Imitation xiii = ‘s 
antiquities ‘ a 
are also ex- 
ported from 
Porto Rico 
in the An- 
tilles. A spe- 
Gialty of 
Augsburg 
and Nurem- 
burg is the 
manu facture 
of stoneware 
jugs decorat- 
ed in many 
colors, and 
diated as 
products of 
the Renais- 
sance period, 
though com- 
monly only a 
few months 
old. 
But where 
the imitator 
shines in his 
full glory is 
in the counterfeiting of paintings. Without attempting to 
enumerate all the ingenious processes of forgery which 
these artists employ, we may here indicate a few of the 
most cunning. The first step is to purchase an old painting 
of small value from a bric-a-brac dealer. This is carefully 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
The genesis of an “‘ancient”’ triptych (three-panel picture) 
Gilding and varnishing furniture in the old style 
August, 1911 
washed, and a suitable subject, worthy of one of the great 
masters, is then painted over the canvas. ‘The colors are 
mixed with ashes and soot to give them an appearance of 
age. Sometimes the same result is obtained by the process 
known as “marouflage.” ‘This consists in pasting over an 
old canvas treated in the man- 
ner just described, a recent copy 
of some ancient painting. With 
this our artist’s work is nearly 
accomplished. It only remains 
to “bake” the picture, in order 
to dry and crack the color. If 
the scales formed are not sufh- 
cient in number, this slight de- 
fect can be remedied by the aid 
of a needle. If there is some 
little detail in the picture, which 
the artist finds it above his pow- 
ers to satisfactorily counterfeit, 
he invokes nature’s aid: Tele 
turns himself into a horticultur- 
ist of a peculiar kind, and, 
wiping with a moistened cloth 
the spot which is to be partially 
obliterated, prepares the bed for 
a growth of mold or fungus, 
which in a few days covers the spot under treatment. 
Lastly the painting passes into the hands of the ‘‘mono- 
gramist,” who duly inserts a suitable signature. The 
science of this specialist is one not easily learnt. He must 
have made a detailed study of the brushes used by the 
great masters; he has on file the initials and complete 
signatures as well as the dates of famous painters, copied 
from originals in the museums at Rome, Paris, Berlin, 
London or Madrid. He knows that such and such artist 
a lw agyves 
signed his 
paintings on 
the lete 
while this or 
that, Wia nade 
scape paint- 
er invaria- 
bly placed 
his initials at 
the bottom. 
Another, a 
painter of 
hist oxuwiear 
subj ects 
would — sign 
his initials 
with a flour- 
ish on the 
right, while 
still another, 
the author 
of portraits 
would sim- 
ply put his 
initials in 
“ printed 
characters at 
the upper 
left hamid 
corner. 
It must be said that the ‘“‘fake” painters of to-day can 
boast of most brilliant predecessors. Did not Paul de Vos 
copy Snyders, and has not David Teniers, the younger, 
counterfeited Tiziano? In the case of modern paintings the 
task of the expert becomes excessively difficult, for certain 
