They are the tricks of the art forger’s trade: from wearing 18th-century smocks (fibres in the paint) to ageing paintings for weeks in front of wood-burning stoves (cracks) or having someone smoke 60 cigarettes a day alongside an artwork (patina).
And they have been shared with the bestselling crime writer Peter James for his forthcoming novel about the world of fakes and forgeries. He has been given an insight into some of the forgers’ more dubious talents.
