For 30 years, Mark Landis went to museums all over the country donating "real paintings" to museums (geography). These museums did not know these donated paintings were fake until now. He fooled museums by getting microscopes (biology) and magnifying glasses and comparing every single drop of paint and every single place where the color went into the painting. The FBI looked into the case and said that there was no crime since Mr. Landis did not ask for money. At the age of 17, Landis was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness, it is believed that making these fake paintings helped to calm his mental illness (Blair, 2014). Landis duped about 45 museums without anyone figuring him out. The FBI says "he just wanted to find a place in the world."
Landis' Mona Lisa
Real Mona Lisa
Blair, Elizabeth. "Art & Craft Explores How One Forger Duped More Than 45 Museums." NPR: Sam Cullman. 27 September 2014. Web. 28 September 2014
This is so crazy! When comparing the two the only difference that I can see is a slight color difference in the red portion of the background. I wonder why the different museums didn't find out sooner. Museums probably communicate with each other often, trying to sell art to each other and compare artists. Also, wouldn't it be suspicious if someone just offered to give you a Mona Lisa painting and was claiming that it was real. The Mona Lisa is a very famous piece and the museums should have known that something was up.
ReplyDeleteI found out last year in art class that the Mona Lisa was never finished. She has no fingernails or eyebrows. I think this was because the artist died but I'm not completely positive. Where is the Mona Lisa hanging today?
Wow, I am shocked. How did he go all those years without anyone finding out that he was giving out fake paintings to museums?! Well, I guess it was not that difficult because, looking at the comparison of the real Mona Lisa with Landis' Mona Lisa, I would definitely not be able to tell either. But as Bailey said, the museums should've been suspicious if a random guy donated the Mona Lisa to their museum. It's amazing how he scrutinized every millimeter of that painting to make it look just like the original. I wonder how long that took! I like how you included the pictures and put them next to each other so it would be easy to compare them. Great job.
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