“An export license isn’t a guarantee of a work’s authenticity,” said a spokesperson for the Spanish national police. “In this case, the license was being used as a means of claiming the painting was original.”
Once French customs officials realized the license had expired, they seized the painting and notified the Spanish police, who then traveled to the French border to take the artwork.
It was sent to the Museo Nacional del Prado, the national art museum in Madrid, Spain. There, experts carefully analyzed the painting to determine its authenticity.
Museum specialists concluded that the painting was a fraud and was not made by Leonardo. It was just a copy of Milanese portraits from the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The imitation piece likely dates back to the early 20th century.
Experts valued it at between $3,200 and $5,400, which is much less than the $1.4 million the art dealer was asking for.
The good news is that he was caught before someone shelled out money to have a fake hanging on their wall.
Another case of art fraud was cracked in June when investigators realized that Astral Plain Scouts, a work supposedly created by artist Norval Morriseau, was a fake. The painting was donated to the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Canada by a private collector in 2000.
