Police Fake Off Art Thieves With Fake Painting

[EnolaGaia]

Here's an example of a police 'con' that worked. Apparently observant parishioners noticed the swap, but managed to keep the secret.

Thieves steal fake copy of Brueghel painting from Italian church
A group of thieves stole a painting by Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger from an Italian church Wednesday, but not before police replaced the $3.4 million artwork with a fake.

The thieves stole a copy of the 17th century painting, titled Crucifixion, from Santa Maria Maddalena church in the small Northern Italian town of Castelnuovo Magra.

Hours after the theft, local police revealed they caught wind of the planned theft ahead of time and swapped out the original painting with a fake. Officials kept up the ruse in the hours after the theft, telling newspapers the theft was a "hard blow for the community."

They made the swap about a month before the theft. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/0...l-painting-from-Italian-church/1431552512903/

 

[Ermintruder]

I had no idea until recently about the vast range of semi-contemporary copies of Old Masters paintings that exist eg The Last Supper / Mona Lisa etc. It sonewhat begs the question- to what extent is provenance merely observance?