Hieronymous Bosch Forgery?

September 26, 2006 10:07 AM

Hieronymous Bosch - Filter: I saw a painting in the Mimara museum in Zagreb which claims to be The Temptation of St. Anthony by Bosch. But...I suspect its a fake...

Here's a photo of the one in Zagreb.

And, here's the original which sits in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon, Portugal.

Did Bosch make more than one version or is this likely a cheap copy?

posted by vacapinta to media & arts (4 comments total)

Bosch only made one, but his followers made many (there are currently 20, some in large national galleries). The one in Lisbon is thought to be the original, according to this site (it's a stupid flash thingy - click on 'his works', then on 'triptychs', then on The Temptation...).
posted by goo at 11:04 AM on September 26, 2006

Wikipedia lists Bosch as being one of the artists whose work appears at the Mimara museum, but this may just have been taken from the museum's website.

As for the veracity of the picture it is hard to say. Bosch didn't always sign his work and certainly had repeating themes and images, but the one in the Mimara seems to be, at best, an early rough draft of the one that appears in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon, Portugal. The color scheme seems to soft and bright, the main images are there sans his typical detail, and while your photograph of the Mimara sample is small, it does not seem to share his style of painting fire. I'd say copy.

I am not an art scholar, but I do know a number of counterfeit items find their way into museums from time to time, often going unnoticed for years.

Might be best just to grab a Tilburg's and forget about it.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 11:49 AM on September 26, 2006

This is interesting because yes the Mimara calls it a Bosch and museum guides and travel guides (who must just copy the museum guides) also mention the Bosch.

The timing for this question is also good. We had emailed the Lisbon museum about this but hadnt recieved a response. But, just a while ago, a response was received. I won't copy it here since the response is in Portuguese but basically they say:

1- They weren't aware of this work in the Mimara (!)
2 - To them it looks like a really bad copy done "in a matter of days" from some book illustration (gotta love their dismissiveness)

Interesting...
posted by vacapinta at 12:02 PM on September 26, 2006

For more about Ante Topic Mimara, see this article by Thomas Hoving, former director of the Met, who describes him as 'scam artist, art thief, art forger, a master spy for Tito, a KGB agent and perhaps a killer'. Also this article, which describes the Mimara Museum as 'a jumble of fakes and wishful attributions'.
posted by verstegan at 12:53 PM on September 26, 2006