Tom Keating

For the American football player, see Tom Keating (American football). For the priest and author, see Thomas Keating.

Tom Keating
Keating at Jane Kelly's family home in Kew, London, 1967.
Born(1917-03-01)1 March 1917
Forest Hill, London, UK
Died12 February 1984(1984-02-12) (aged 66)
Dedham, Essex. UK
EducationSelf-taught
Known forOld master forgeries, protest against the art trade
Notable workMajor restoration of Marlborough House murals, two television series on how to paint like the Old Masters, The Hay Wain in Reverse

Thomas Patrick Keating (1 March 1917 – 12 February 1984) was an English artist, art restorer and art forger. Considered the most prolific and versatile art forger of the 20th century,[1] he claimed to have faked more than 2,000 paintings by more than 160 different artists of unprecedented scope—ranging from the Renaissance (Holbein, Titian, Tintoretto) to Modernism, Expressionism and Fauvism (Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse)—with heavy emphasis on English landscape Romanticists and the French Impressionists.[2][3] Total estimated profits from his forgeries amount in today's value to more than $10 million.[4]

He claimed his aim was not material gain, but rather a crusade against art dealers he believed were only interested in fine art as a commodity, for which an impressive provenance, often dubious or wholly invented, always trumped the masterful artistry and intrinsic beauty of any particular drawing or painting.[5][6][7]

He began flooding the London art market in the early 1950s with hundreds of consistently convincing fakes, often by giving them to friends and acquaintances, with tacit expectation that many would soon end up in a posh Bond Street auction house, or gallery.[8]

He escalated his crusade in the late 1960s and early 1970s by directing his business partner and lover, Jane Kelly, to sell several fakes of then little known romanticist, Samuel Palmer.[9] As a result of these sales, both Keating and Kelly ended up on trial, in 1979, at the top criminal court in Britain, charged with art fraud. Kelly pleaded guilty and received an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years. After two days giving evidence, Keating ended up in hospital for a motorbike injury. He returned for a third day in court, during which he collapsed in the witness box, and was taken back to hospital. He was released without charge two weeks later due to failing health.[10]

In 1982, he starred in an award-winning Channel 4 television series in which he instructed viewers in the intricately detailed painting techniques of his favourite Old Masters. A followup series, focusing on the Impressionists, began airing two days after his death, in 1984.[11]

  1. ^ Jones, Mark, ed. (1990). FAKE? THE ART OF DECEPTION. London: British Museum Publications. pp. 240–242. ISBN 071411703X.
  2. ^ MacGillivray, Donald (2 July 2005). "When is a fake not a fake? When it's a genuine forgery". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :20 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Authentication in Art Unmasked Forgers".
  5. ^ Staff Reporter (20 August 1976). "Mr. Keating says art imitations are protest". The Times. p. 1.
  6. ^ Norman, Geraldine (11 August 1976). "How the art world can be lured into buying and selling fakes". The Times. p. 12.
  7. ^ Norman, Geraldine (27 August 1976). "Mr. Keating made 2000 pastiches". The Times. p. 1.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Rais, Guy (16 January 1979). "ART FAKES GIRL 'UNDER SPELL OF OLDER PAINTER'". The Times. p. 9.
  10. ^ Wright, Richard (27 February 1979). "Charges dropped against artist as ex-lover sentenced: Keating girl Jane is freed". The Daily Express. p. 5.
  11. ^ Dear, Peter, ed. (14 February 1984). "Today's television programmes, Channel 4, Tom Keating On Impressionism". The Times. p. 31.