"Garden Shed" Art Forger

Curators at the archeological museum in Madrid were entranced by the bronze aquamanile, or water carrier, in the shape of a dove. The Madrid dove was almost unique art , because the original Arabic inscriptions had been overlaid in Latin — the embodiment of the reconquest of Spain by Christians in the 15th century after centuries of Moorish rule. The museum, which has the role of safeguarding evidence of Spain’s art heritage, refused a request from Sotheby’s, the art auction house, for an export licence. Instead it persuaded a Madrid bank to buy the dove for the equivalent of £900,000 and donate it to the nation in lieu of taxes. It is now on show in the museum. Unfortunately, the dove is almost certainly a fake, according to friends of an English master forger. They believe he made it in a garden shed in Herefordshire out of old bath taps. For the full story - click the title Irish Art