Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art

When the talented but struggling artist John Myatt put a small advert for genuine fakes in Private Eye, he accidentally set the scene for Britain s biggest art scandal of the 20th century. His ad conjured up the magnetic and suave Professor Drewe, a brilliant physicist with secret-service connections and a chauffeured Bentley. Soon the artist was sucked into a raffish web of deceit, crime and shifting identities that took him to the pinnacle of London's elite modern art world. From the savviest art dealers to the most brilliant world experts, it soon emerged that the prestigious art scene has one fatal flaw waiting to be exploited by anyone daring enough to try.... While Myatt turned out to order modern art in any style (at times mixing household paint with KY jelly as he is allergic to oil paints.), Drewe discovers that art with proof of authenticity sells, no questions asked.
Claiming to be a descendant of the earl of York, a historian of the Nazi era, an army lieutenant, a weapons expert and even a hang glider, Drewe sets about insinuating himself into the most exclusive archives, including the ICA and the Tate in order to back up his fraud in an ingenious new way. Only when Drewe's marriage to a respected eye-specialist ends acrimoniously, does the perfect fraud factory collapse.
Over a decade, the unlikely duo sold over 200 fakes for millions of pounds, of which only 80 were uncovered: the art world would never be the same again. This meticulously-researched true story of a bold mastermind and his unwitting accomplice shows that there is truly nothing more genuine than a real fake.