Illuminated Manuscript by the Spanish Forger

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Reference No.: 6

Date: 1900

Category: Paintings, Prints, Photos, and Drawings

Location of Origin: Europe / England

Price: 8000

Medium/Materials: Illuminated Manuscript on Vellum

Dimensions: Image - 6in (w) x 9in (h). Frame - 13in (w) x 15in (h)

Description: The image is of a man with a lute playing to a woman in a tower as another woman emerges from a door in tower below. The image includes numerous desirable elements of medieval scenes, including: a beautiful female in fine costume, noble men engaged in a courtly encounters, and castles perched on promontories.

Provenance:

Additional Information: The name "Spanish Forger" derives from the fact that the majority of this artist's paintings and illuminated manuscripts were originally attributed to the painter and illuminator Jorge Inglis, who was active in Spain but may have been English. The identity of the Spanish Forger remains unknown, although he is believed to have worked in Paris around 1900. He did not simply copy other images, but created original compositions in a distinctive style that romanticized medieval life with figures commonly have high cheek bones small pursed lips and often tilt their heads at a slight angle.

These images were avidly collected by institutions and private collectors alike and were exposed as forgeries around 1930, and in 1978 the Pierpont Morgan Library published a catalogue of his work (W. Voelkle with R. Wieck The Spanish Forger 1978 this leaf no L50). Now they are increasingly sold collected and even exhibited as his forgeries.