[CPProt.net] Australia: Cezanne real, says expert [24mar05]

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

 Cezanne real, says expert

24mar05

SECRET clues hidden in a so-called $50 million Cezanne masterpiece at the
centre of "Australia's biggest art heist" prove the painting is authentic,
an international art expert says.

Svend-Erik Hendriksen, the director of Greenland Art Research, said
yesterday he was certain about the authenticity of the painting, supposedly
worth $50 million and allegedly stolen from a northern NSW home. 
He based his assessment on the unsigned work, purported to have been painted
by Paul Cezanne, being riddled with secret signatures left behind by the
renowned French impressionist. 

The piece, Son in a High Chair, was among notable works said to have been
taken from the home of eccentric NSW art restorer John Opit in February last
year. 

The theft at the time was described as Australia's biggest art robbery, with
the painting claimed by Mr Opit to be worth $50 million. 

Police last week said the painting was a fake, citing the findings of
Brisbane art dealer Michael Sourgnes, who dismissed the collection as barely
worthy of a junk shop. 

But Mr Hendriksen, noted on the Art Experts Inc website as a veteran expert
in Italian Renaissance paintings, said by phone from Greenland: "There is no
doubt in my mind about that painting -- it's a Paul Cezanne." 

Mr Hendriksen said his organisation was one of the world's leading
"miniature" experts and had found several of them by simply looking at a low
resolution digital photo of the painting. 

Mr Hendriksen said "miniatures" were small, detailed objects hidden into
paintings, which artists such as Cezanne used to prevent copying. 

In Son in a High Chair, they included a bluebird, a figure of Cezanne
himself peering through the window and a pair of eyes, he said. 

"Very few people are able to see that kind of thing because they don't know
much about miniatures," he said. 

Mr Opit said he had been contacted by several European authenticators who
had made claims similar to Mr Hendriksen. 

"No so-called expert in this country . . . has been able to locate these,"
Mr Opit said.



http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/