Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery, but in the art world it’s not always seen that way.
The FBI announced Monday that in July it had seized a fraudulent Andrew Wyeth painting “Snow Birds” from a New York auction house .
The FBI said the fraudulent painting, which had been valued at up to $500,000, was up for sale at a major auction house in New York.
But before the auction began, questions surfaced about its authenticity.
Mary Landa of the Brandywine River Museum, which keeps records of the original painting, “was able to identify discrepancies showing that the painting was a skillfully executed forgery,” the FBI said. The real “Snow Birds” painting was painted by Andrew Wyeth in 1970. He died in January 2009.
The FBI said the man selling the fraudulent painting denied any wrongdoing and agreed to forfeit it to the U.S. government.
” The fraudulent painting is being forfeited to remove it from the stream of commerce,” the FBI said.
