Quick & Dirty

11

Stone was intrigued. “Why do you think that?”

“Farina, in his youth, was a very expert and successful forger of art. He worked as an art restorer, repairing hundreds of old paintings, and he learned how they were made and with what materials. He is alleged to have sold hundreds of forgeries, many of which are said to be hanging in museums all over America and Europe, undetected. When law enforcement finally took an interest in him, he stopped doing forgeries and earned his living by selling his own paintings or copies of those of others’, identified as such, and by his art restoration business.

“It has been fifteen years or so since he says he stopped forging, and the statute of limitations has expired for any fakes he may have executed. Also, he left no paper trail — no receipts, bills of sale, no provenance, nothing — so it would have been difficult to convict him, anyway.”

“You still haven’t told me why you think Angelo Farina painted the supposed van Gogh.”

“Angelo lived about two hundred yards from Mark Tillman’s house in the Hamptons.”

“So they were friends?”

“They were. Mark would go over to Angelo’s studio and watch him paint. I believe that Mark, over time, concocted the story of the painting and asked Angelo to paint it for him. If that is so, then he probably faked the theft of his painting for the insurance.”

“Could Angelo paint in the style of van Gogh?”

“Angelo could paint in any style. He needed only a picture to copy. In this case he would probably have looked at several photographs of van Goghs in museums, then copied his style and brushstrokes. And that is what makes it so difficult to deny that the picture is a fraud — it is not a copy of anything, so no direct comparisons can be made.”

“But there are differences between old and new paints and canvases. Surely that would have been checked.”

“Of course, but Angelo is highly expert at using old materials and paints.” Steele opened his briefcase and handed Stone a book, entitled Art for Art’s Sake. “He explains his techniques in his autobiography. I think you’ll find it interesting. For instance, he will buy a cheap painting from the period in question, remove the oil paint from the canvas, apply a gesso, or primer coat, of his own invention, which is made of ingredients that cannot be dated. Then he uses his own paints or old ones, the formulas of which have not changed for centuries. He has special techniques for aging the finished painting — like baking it in the sun for days to produce the cracks associated with age, and even adding what appear to be fly specks, which are common on old paintings. He uses pieces of old wood from period furniture for the backings, and he has a large collection of period frames. The results are masterful.” Arthur went back into his briefcase and came out with an 8x10-inch color transparency. “This was taken by our expert during the examination, in sunlight.”

Stone’s breath was slightly taken away. “This is glorious,” he said.

“All of Angelo’s work, that we’ve actually seen, has been glorious,” Arthur said. “The FBI has quite a collection of his, ah, works, but of course they can’t prove that he painted any of them.”

“This is all very intriguing,” Stone said.

“One more thing, and this happened when I was present as the experts were examining Mark’s picture. The man from the Van Gogh Museum wanted to clean a small area of the painting to see what might be underneath more than a century of dust and dirt. He had brought acetone, the best cleaner, with him, but Mark would not allow him to use it, saying that it might damage the painting. Instead, he offered the man a bottle of mineral spirits, which would clean the picture fairly well without damaging it. You see, the varnish on paintings hardens very slowly, over a period of decades, to the point where it will not be harmed by acetone, and even Angelo has not been able to replicate this characteristic, so he can’t allow acetone to be used.”

“Very clever of him.”

“And very necessary. I’ve heard of a case where a man bought an old and expensive picture at auction, and when he got it home and tried to clean it with acetone, it melted. It seems obvious, after the fact, that it was a contemporary forgery.”

“This is all very interesting, Arthur,” Stone said, “but I still don’t know what you want from me.”

“Simple. I want you to find the picture and bring it to me so that I can have it cleaned with acetone. Then I will know, one way or another, if it is a genuine van Gogh, and I can pay or deny payment, as is appropriate.”

“Simple? The NYPD and the FBI have already failed to find it, but you expect that I can?”

“But you have something they don’t, Stone.”

“And what is that?”

“Access to Morgan Tillman — perhaps even her trust. That is why I am prepared to offer you a finder’s fee, for the recovery of the painting, of twenty percent.”

“Twenty percent of what?”

“Forty million dollars.”

“But you have insured it for sixty million, Arthur.”

“Oh, all right,” Steele said grumpily, “twenty percent of sixty million dollars.” Steele opened his briefcase and extracted one of two identical envelopes. “And here is a letter to that effect — a contract, if you like.”

Stone opened the unsealed envelope and read the letter inside. “You have neglected to sign it, Arthur.”

Steele took the letter from him, signed it with a flourish, and handed it back. “There you are.”

“I expect the other envelope contains a letter mentioning forty million,” Stone said.

“That’s neither here nor there,” Steele replied, offering his hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Stone shook it. “How long do I have?”

“Two weeks from today, at noon,” Steele said. “It must be in my hands by then to have time for it to be reexamined.”

Stone put the letter back into its envelope and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket. “I’ll be in touch,” he said. Then he stopped for a moment. “You realize, Arthur,” he said, “that if you’re wrong about this, the picture is the very last one painted by van Gogh.”

Steele made a little groaning noise.