Exhibited Eric Hebborn Bronze Bust, ex-Christie's

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Exceptional Finds Ancient, Ethno, Fine Art

By Artemis Gallery

Nov 15, 2024

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• Lot Description
  Eric Hebborn (British, 1934-1996). "Louis Meier" bronze, ca. 1970s. Signed "E. Hebborn" on back of bust. A large bronze bust of Louis Meier rendered in an emotionally charged expressionist manner by the late Eric Hebborn, an artist who achieved great notoriety for his forgeries of 'Old Masters' during the 20th century. Hebborn established a gallery in Rome and flooded the art market with thousands of paintings, sculptures, and drawings that were rendered in the style of Old Masters and later sold as originals. Interestingly, this bronze bust of Louis Meier is not a forgery but rather an original that was signed by Hebborn and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1977 where Hebborn was a student from 1954 and 1959. Christie's London sold the sculpture in 1986, ten years before Hebborn was found with a fractured skull on a street near his home in Rome - a dramatic end for the most prolific art forger of modern times. Size: 12" L x 11" W x 20.75" H (30.5 cm x 27.9 cm x 52.7 cm); 23.75" H (60.3 cm) on limestone base.
  
  About the artist: The late Eric Hebborn was an artist who was best known as a prolific forger who deceived many prominent figures in the art world with his alleged "Old Master" works. In Hebborn's kiss and tell confessional titled "Drawn to Trouble: The Forging of an Artist" (1991) he admitted to faking 500 Old Master drawings. A few years later, Hebborn published his cheeky autobiography entitled "The Art Forger's Handbook" (1998) a text in which he discusses "the inks, papers, pens, and colors of the great artists of the past and offers tips for experts and collectors on spotting fake works of art."
  
  According to a CNN report by Christy Kuesel, Hebborn is regarded as the "greatest art forger of modern times." Kuesel continues, "By his own estimate, he created over 1,000 forgeries. Only a handful of these works have been exposed as fakes, in places like the National Gallery of Denmark and the Morgan Library & Museum, after passing through the finest auction houses in the world. Some of the most notable artists Hebborn claimed to have forged, in addition to Brueghel and Van Dyck, include Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Peter Paul Rubens."
  
  Hebborn attended the Royal Academy of Arts and won the Rome Prize in engraving. Following his graduation, Hebborn further honed his ability to imitate Old Masters by working as an art restorer. Hebborn established Pannini Galleries with his partner Graham Smith and his circle included stars of the London art world such as dealer Hans Calmann, Old Master drawings specialist, Christopher White, and Anthony Blunt who was Queen Elizabeth II's art advisor who would eventually admit to being a Russian spy. Despite his forgeries, Hebborn did not admit to criminal behavior. According to Kuesel's article, "Insisting he was not a criminal, Hebborn subscribed to his own moral code. He let experts make their own opinions about his work without input from him, and he would charge similar prices for his Old Master forgeries as he did for the works he made under his own name." In his 1991 memoir, Hebborn stated, "There is nothing criminal in making a drawing in any style one wishes, nor is there anything criminal about asking an expert what he thinks of it."
  
  Hebborn's forgeries were discovered when art historian Konrad Oberhuber, the world's leading authority on Raphael's drawings who was then a curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., realized that two drawings from Colnaghi Gallery allegedly by different artists presented with styles that were identical and were rendered on the same kind of paper. Oberhuber notified a curator at the Morgan Library & Museum who made similar observations with respect to a drawing in their collection. This led to Hebborn's downfall. (source: Christy Kuesel. "The Prolific Forger Whose Fake 'Old Masters' Fooled the Art World" CNN October 24, 2019)
  
  Accompanied by Royal Academy exhibition label and Christie's documentation.
  
  Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico USA collection; ex-Christie's London, 1986
  
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  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #188889

  Condition

  Overall very nice with rich patina. Signed "E. Hebborn" on back of bust. A few small chips to peripheries of the limestone base as shown.
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