Art

The Plough forgeries constitute the longest-running forgery case in history. This is partly due to the development of the legal procedures (See Law), but also the result of a lack of input from the art world. As can be seen on the Catalogue Raisonné Page, the absence of a catalogue raisonné presents a big problem to the oeuvre of The Plough, since there is no objective point of reference to determine if a work actually belongs to the oeuvre. Even though there are a number of people with significant expertise on The Plough and their works, there is no definitive authority when it comes to the authenticity of one of their alleged works. The lack of such an authority, combined with the lack of an objective point of reference, opens the door to forgers. The second point where the art world has been found wanting is the research dedicated to these possible forgeries. Until the authenticity research of Atelier voor Restauratie & Research van Schilderijen (A.R.R.S.) in 2010 no extensive examination into the dubious The Plough works had been done. This research was the first to definitively prove, both on art historical and technical grounds, that the examined works were forgeries, most likely made by Cor Van L. (See Authenticity Research). If it had not been for the civil case against Van L., this research most likely would never have been performed. Herein lies the main motivation for this website: showing the consequences of not actively combating a forger. In doing so, we aim to make clear the need for a more pro-active approach from the art world. If this does not change, another The Plough forgery case is simply waiting to happen.