Policie České republiky – Kriminalistický ústav
3
Téměř dokonalý padělatel
A NEAR-PERFECT COUNTERFEITER
Blue and red pigment - samples taken from questioned paintings
In January 2008, the Regional Court in Brno delivered a judgement in the biggest case of forgery of paintings in the history of the Czech criminalistics. According to the indictment, the members of the organised group were supposed to have produced nearly 160 forgeries of paintings created by leading Czech masters of the 19th and 20th centuries in 2003-2004. By selling these canvases, they were supposed to have earned almost CZK 10 million. The perpetrators were given two conditional sentences and one unconditional. One conditional sentence with a four-year suspension was imposed upon an artist, L.P., who had painted almost 50 paintings on the theme of the works of Jan Zrzavý. Concerning the fact that his paintings were not just plain copies of the well-known originals but new works created by L.P. who mastered brilliantly the painting technique of Jan Zrzavý, it was very difficult to prove the pictures counterfeits. The seized paintings were being examined by the experts in the Institute of Criminalistics in the Physical Chemistry department for more than a year. The forensic experts also had paints and canvases seized in the house searches at their disposal.
An important part of the examination of artworks is the analysis of the pigment phases that are part of the paints. The analysis reveals materials used in the production of the counterfeit work and answer the question of whether the paint used for the questioned work under examination matches the chemical composition of the paint used by the author of the original. The difference in the composition of the pigments was one of the proofs in this case.
Experts from the forensic chemistry department and handwriting experts contributed to the complexity of the expert opinion (they verified authenticity of signatures).
TÝDEN.cz
Zrzavý's forger invoked the painter's spirit
23/10/2007 13:59
Libor Prášil, who four years ago produced nearly 50 copies of paintings of the leading Czech painter Jan Zrzavý with such a skill that even some experts were not able to recognize it, has appeared before the Regional Court in Brno. He told the court that he succeeded in making such good counterfeits because the spirit of the famous artist had entered him.
Prášil is now being prosecuted together with a group of four other men. They are accused of having nearly 160 forgeries of artworks of the 19th and 20th century Czech masters made between 2003 and 2004. According to the case file, they made CZK 10 million by selling them. They provided also false certificates of origin with the forgeries.
Mr Prášil claimed he suffered from a mild mental disorder. His own works were not successful but he mastered Zrzavý's technique so well that he made CZK 300,000 approximately from the forgeries in just six months. "I identified myself so much with the spirit of the work and the artist that I saw no difference between my own person and the painter. It was as if his spirit had come to me," Prášil told the court. He was able to create a copy of any of the Zrzavý's paintings, estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of Czech korunas, from photographs in just three days.
The painter defended himself by saying that he considered the copies to be the results of his own work. He claims that he did not want to harm anyone. He said he had been told that he was making the copies for people who knew the works were copies. He was told that these clients were so much in love with the works of Zrzavý that they were content with copies as they could not get hold of originals. However, the reality was different. The file shows that the imitations were traded. Some people paid over half a million Czech koronas for nice but completely worthless canvases. (text abridged)
Novinky.cz
Court imposes punishments in biggest case of artworks forgery
The Regional Court in Brno on Wednesday passed a verdict in the biggest case of artworks forgery in the history of Czech criminalistics. The judges imposed one unconditional and two conditional sentences.
Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 14:42 - BRNO
(Updated: Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 14:57)
Jan Trojan Jr, the dealer of the counterfeit artworks, will spend three years in prison. His accomplice, Josef Sedlák, was given an 18-month sentence suspended for four years.
Between 2003 and 2004, the men created dozens of fake paintings of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Czech masters. According to the case file, they made CZK 10 million by selling them.
Jan Trojan Jr. received an unconditional sentence for ordering forgeries of paintings of Jan Zrzavý, Vojtěch Sedláček and other painters. The forged artworks were painted by Libor Prášil. Josef Sedlák took care of the false documents of acquisition of the paintings.
The other accused persons were cleared from accusations. Jan Trojan Sr. died during the proceedings.
pno, jac, Novinky, Právo