Wolfgang Beltracchi
Artist
Wolfgang Beltracchi is a German artist and former art forger.
For over 40 years he painted paintings in the artistic handwriting of well-known painters from four centuries.
Accredited art experts, international auction houses and art museums judged his works to be authentic paintings by the respective artist.
In 2010 the Dörner Institute in Munich discovered small amounts of titanium white in the painting layer of the painting "Red picture with horses" attributed to Heinrich Campendonk. Titanium white is a pigment that Campendonk did not use at the time the painting was allegedly created. The sham was exposed. During a sensational trial in 2011 Wolfgang Beltracchi and his wife Helene were sentenced to six and four years' imprisonment in open prison.
While in custody, the couple published two books, produced a full-length documentary and a 15-part TV documentary series with the cultural broadcaster 3Sat. Today they live as successful artists in Switzerland.
