The
Lady of Elche is a forgery, too
|
|||||
![]() Berlin · o. J. |
|||||
|
|
![]() |
|
First of all one looks at the mouth, those erotic lips painted faintly red. That is the type of beauty hall mark the higher society loved a century ago. It was exactly this criterium that made me unmask the not less beautiful lady Persephone of Berlin (sorry, "Persephone of Tarento"): a certain aesthetic concept which could be summarized "Jugendstil". An easy approach to forgeries made of stone is to look for damaged portions; they usually occur at odd sites, not where you would expect them. |
Very seldom a figure is damaged in a way to make it look ugly. In most cases
important parts of the face are conserved perfectly. Yet minor damages have
to be there to make it look old. Our Lady of Elche has a deep scar (replenished
by restauration) at the left cheek right underneath the ear, that is: in
a well protected corner, where it could hardly be damaged before nose, lips
or eyelids are destroyed. Which they are not.
This is not just suspicious, it is simply impossible. Then I usually look at the ability of the artist to represent a human figure. Most good artists - those who work openly and tell the truth about the origin of their products - have a certain canon of knowledge. |
![]() |
Forgers instead commit
blunt failures. In this case it is the neck of the Lady that is far to
thick, the nose is unorganic, the headgear seems invented. Only the jewellery
is well copied. |
Literatur: There is an extemsive debate to this subject here. |
![]() ![]() |