In the art world, being able to distinguish between amasterpiece and a copy can prevent a multimillion dollar mistake.In 2011, art forger Wolfgang Beltracchi was sentenced to six years in prison forproducing hundreds of fake paintings, one of which later sold for$7 million. His paintings duped hundreds of people, including SteveMartin, who hung a forgery in his home for years.

However, a year later, in 2012, Cezanne’s painting “The CardPlayers” was sold at auction for $250 million, the most ever paid for a work of art. Obviouslyart collectors are prepared to pay a high price for a verifiedwork. How does one tell the difference?

For better or for worse, original art has been copied forcenturies. Art students learn the trade by copying masterpieces andoften reproductions have been used to provide a less expensiveversion of a popular painting. With the advent of advanced digitalcopying techniques, it can be hard to distinguish a reproductionfrom an original.

For some works the signature will be a dead giveaway.Inconsistencies in style, fashion, or period will quickly revealwhich works are valid and which are not. Other times the artisticstyle will reveal a piece’s true identity. Various brush strokes,or lack of them, can also be used to distinguish the fake from thetrue.

Perhaps most important to determining the identity of a paintingis to establish provenance through documentation. Thisdocumentation confirms the work’s authenticity and often includesreceipts, exhibition stickers, and names of previous owners. Goodprovenance leaves no doubt that a work of art is genuine and by theartist whose signature it bears.

An upcoming webinar, “Recognizing Fakes, Frauds and Forgeries inFine Art Claims” on Thursday,February 26 will review what to look for when determining apainting’s authenticity including artist signatures, artisticstyles and abilities, machine-made paintings versus hand-paintedcanvases and originals versus copies. Afterwards, claim adjusterswill be given the basic tools to distinguish a priceless work ofart from a comparatively worthless forgery.

The webinar will also provide examples of insured claimed worksand the steps taken to determine their true identity, includingsome believed to have been done by Picasso, John Singer Sargent,and Ted DeGrazia which sold for thousands of dollars and were laterrevealed to be copies.