A fake Thomas Rowlandson from The Art of Deception show being held at The Watercolours & Drawings Fair in London.
As is so often the case, greed has lead to diminishing returns. After fooling a number of buyers and achieving some very high prices, the faker (believed to be based in south-east London) overplayed his hand and gave the game away by putting too many on the market at once.
Parts of this fake are masterly and fluid. However, it is seen as mostly very plodding and the overall colour key is quite wrong.
Nevertheless, these works continue to surface and to the untrained eye can be difficult to distinguish from Rowlandson's sometimes erratic output. This and other fraudulent work is included in an show titled The Art of Deception that runs alongside The Watercolours & Drawings Fair at 6 Burlington Gardens from February 1-4.
