Artifact Reading Inspector

The eyes of the people sparkled as they started to concentrate even more. They were already expecting for one of the two drawings to be fake, so what Haejin said wasn’t that shocking.

They just wanted to know why Haejin thought it was fake and how it had been made.

“It is fake… I wonder why you think so,” The woman with the mike asked with a smile.

However, Haejin was somewhat bored. He gestured at the drawing and explained, “The drawing has faded too much, even for such an old painting. What should I say… it has aged too unnaturally? The ink has also faded considering the supposed age of the drawing.”

However, the woman continued to ask again, “Feeling that it has aged unnaturally… and feeling that the ink has also faded… you are only talking about how you feel it.”

She was saying Haejin had to give objective evidence, and she was right. Haejin couldn’t say the drawing was fake just because his guts said so.

Therefore, he explained, “Normally, iron-gall ink gets even darker with time, not lighter. Although this drawing was drawn with that ink, it has actually faded in time. That is not right. It is the side effect of forcing the drawing to age quickly.”

The woman nodded. It meant Haejin had come up with a logical proof, but Haejin didn’t like her doing that.

Did she even know what she was nodding at?

“Is that all? You must have more evidence, I actually like that drawing very much,” a woman, under the dais, asked while lightly raising her wine glass.

Haejin was about to answer, but then he changed his mind and asked her something different. If this was a show, then he had to entertain them.

Also, he knew that getting attention now would be of great help while working in Europe in the future.

“Of course. Do you draw?”

The woman wasn’t surprised by the question. She was rather glad and smiled while putting her hand on her chest. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

“I did ballet and drawing when I was a child. I stopped ballet after I got married, but I still draw from time to time.”

“Then, it would be easy for you to understand. How do you draw when you make a drawing?”

She thought about it for a moment and then said, “Hmm… I guess you are asking me about my drawing skills?”

She was quick-witted.

“You are very wise,” Haejin complimented her.

“Haha! Thank you. I don’t know if my opinion will help, but I will do my best to explain. Umm… I try to depict the object naturally. Lightly and fluttering…”

Haejin smiled, satisfied by her answer, “Excellent. As this beautiful lady just said, an artist will draw using smooth lines to depict the object as naturally and detailed as possible. So, they produce light and less concentrated lines. On the other hand, forgers are different. They draw as slowly as possible while focusing on imitating the style of the real drawing. In conclusion, such heavy lines are an indication of forgery.”

The crowd exclaimed, “Ohh…”

“Amazing. It really looks different.”

It was time to end it now, so Haejin continued, “You won’t be able to find any record about this drawing. It never existed.”

The most preferred method for finding if a particular painting is fake or not is to go through old records as scientific tests often fail to give the final answer.

So, the most accurate way is to go through some old records that mention the painting. When no record of the painting is found, it is likely to be fake, and even if it cannot be concluded as fake, appraisers wouldn’t say it is real.

You might then ask yourself the question the other way around, ‘Are all unrecorded artifacts fake?’

No. Even if it is not recorded, it might be recognized as a real artifact if there is a piece of objective and clear evidence that everyone can accept, and sometimes such artifacts appear.

However, that is also the reason why there are still so many frauds out there.

Clap clap!

The abrupt applaud was heard from the center of the first floor, where Cavani di Medici was.

The applaud of the mansion’s owner soon spread.

Haejin knew this charity event was a show, but he had never been applauded by such a huge crowd. He was a little embarrassed, but he also felt good.

At first, he had been angry about Cavani suddenly putting him on the dais and making him appraise, but regardless of that, Haejin was the greatest appraiser in the world now. Things were going well for him.

After the applauds faded, Cavani put one hand on the parapet and raised his wine glass.

“I’ve heard so much about you, but honestly, I didn’t believe all of it. However, seeing you appraise with my own eyes let me know that what I heard wasn’t an exaggeration. I am truly impressed, but I do have one question. Who made that realistic forgery?”

The others all nodded at this, they also wanted to know that.

Haejin thought about that and then said, “A person with such a drawing technique and such forging technique… wouldn’t it be Eric Hepburn? Haven’t you guessed that already?”

Cavani stroked his beard.

“I thought so, too. But… anyway, thank you. Well, it is time for the auction to continue.”

The woman with the mike took it from there, “Raphael Sanzio’s painting of Psyche and Mercury. The price starts at one million euro and rises by fifty thousand.”

The mood suddenly changed. The smile faded from the people’s faces, they were all determined.

Was it Haejin’s illusion, or did their eyes really show hostility as if they were predators after one prey?

“Two million euros! 2.05 euros!”

The price went up easily and then soared up.

“Ten million euros! The price rises by 100 thousand now! Oh! That gentleman on the first floor just bid 11 million euros!”

The other auctions are usually noisy with participants talking to each other and yelling on the phones, but for some reason, this one proceeded in silence.

The auctioneer was the only one who made a sound within that heavy silence.

It looked really odd, but Haejin got used to it in time.

“31.5 million euros. Is there more? If there isn’t, the auction ends now,” The woman quietly counted to three and whacked her gavel. “Congratulations, you bought it at 31.5 million euros!”

Clap clap!

The smiles returned and, although some of them were still disappointed, they looked like they were on a truce after the battle.

In the meantime, Albert came close to Haejin and asked, “Have you ever seen Eric Hepburn’s fakes before?”

Albert wasn’t trying to provoke Haejin, so he answered with what he could recall, “I’ve seen one before. It had similar patterns to this one. I thought he understood well the original artist’s style and knew a lot about forging, but I didn’t know that I would get to see his work again today. The one I saw before was much better than this one.”

“Hmm… okay,” Albert nodded and went back to where he was. He looked like he wanted to talk more but couldn’t.

Cavani had done that before the auction, so Haejin went to Albert to ask why he had asked that, but the auctioneer lightly grabbed his arm to stop him and winked.

“The auction will resume after a 20-minute break.”

At this, people went back to their party mood and started to talk over wine and refreshments.

The woman turned to Haejin and whispered, “Follow me. Mr. Medici is waiting.”

Haejin looked up at the first floor at this. Cavani wasn’t there, and Eunhae wasn’t in her seat, either.

Haejin was worried. He looked at the auctioneer who smiled while saying, “Don’t worry. She is with Mr. Medici. Please, follow me.”

She started to walk, and Haejin had no choice but to follow her. Albert was also following them.

They went down to the basement where Cavani and Eunahe were sitting on a very expensive sofa in an old-looking room.

Eunhae was clearly puzzled. So, Haejin sat down next to her and asked, “Do you have something to say?”

Cavani then clapped twice.

Next, the other door opened, and two servants came in, carefully carrying a painting covered with a red cloth.

Once it was put in front of Cavani, he crossed his legs and gravely said, “I got this painting about 13 years ago. At the time, I wasn’t very interested in this. I thought it was fake, of course.”

That was enough to give Haejin some questions, “You were not interested in it, but you got it? You didn’t buy it with money?”

Cavani shook his head, “No. I paid more than three million euros to buy this.”

“You knew this was fake, but you still paid three million?”

“Yes. I thought it was worth it, although it was fake,” Cavani explained.

Haejin could sense that it was a masterpiece. If Cavani had thought the fake painting was worth three million euros, then how valuable would the real one be?

“But… then you changed your mind?” Haejin asked.

“I did change my mind, but anyone would have done the same thing after what happened.”

“What happened?”

Cavani crossed his arms, caught his breath, and then continued, “Years ago, Albert told me that this was fake. But then one day, I heard that this might not be fake. So, I let Albert know this and had him appraise it again.”

“And?”

“And this time, Albert said he wasn’t sure. It changed from a fake painting into something that might be fake,” Cavani said.

That story made no sense, but it was interesting. So, Haejin wanted to see which painting it was even before hearing the rest of it.

“May I see the painting first?”

Cavani nodded. Haejin then stood up and carefully removed the red cloth.

“Huh?”

However, the painting that was revealed was something that he hadn’t expected at all.

“So, you do get surprised sometimes,” Cavani commented.

“Of course. I didn’t know I would get to see the missing part of the Ghent Altarpiece.”