| Admin/Biog History | Hebborn, Eric (1934-1996) was a self-confessed forger who copied the style of many famous artists including Corot, Castiglione, Mantegna, Van Dyck, Poussin, Ghisi, Tiepolo, Rubens, Jan Breughel, and Piranesi. He was educated at the Royal Academy and began forging paintings in London whilst working for the picture restorer George Aczel in the 1950s. During the period 1978-1988 alone, it has been estimated that he was responsible for forging approximately 500 drawings which generated profits in excess of $300,000,000.
Sewell met Hebborn through Anthony Blunt, a mutual friend, but he severed links in 1964 after he discovered the artist working on multiple copies of Walter Sickert's portrait of Cicely Hay. In 1978 the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. realised that two of their drawings, originally bought from P & D Colnaghi & Co, were probably fakes and they alerted the auction house. However, Colnaghi's waited eighteen months before revealing the forgeries and, because of their fears of being sued for libel, they never publicly mentioned Hebborn. It was only in 1984 that Hebborn himself confessed to forging works of art. Hebborn wrote a book about his experiences which was published as: Hebborn, Eric. (1991). Drawn to Trouble: The Forging of an Artist. Mainstream: Edinburgh. In it he criticised art experts and dealers who, he felt, accepted his fakes in order to make a profitable sale. He also claimed that many works of art considered genuine had actually been forged by him.
Hebborn died of a severe head injury in 1996, after being attacked in Rome. |