Chapter 143: People who are after the Masterpiece (3)

Haejin was also shocked. He had seen that painting on the iPad only a few hours ago, and he didn’t expect to see it again.

Haejin started to get a headache now and wondered if Giorgio Sayor had come to him with good intentions.

“Where did you get this painting?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Ironically, this is the painting I saw on the iPad before I came here. I am very curious about what is going on.”

“Is, is that true?”

“Of course. Do you think I am lying?”

Giorgio hesitated for some time, but then he started talking, “Actually, the customs workers found this when a shipping company went bankrupt. At first, we knew it was extremely precious, but we didn’t know by who and when it had been made precisely. Then, we asked an appraiser, and he told us it was highly likely to be Veronese’s.”

“You must have been delighted.”

“Of course. We were even happier as it happened soon after Raphael’s drawing. However, the problem occurred about a week ago. We were told the appraisal might be wrong.”

“It might be wrong? How did you find that out?”

Giorgio stroked his chin and sat down on the bench in front of the painting. It cracked under his heavy body, but it didn’t break.

“It means you are not a European. If you were not a Korean, I wouldn’t be telling you this.”

Haejin wondered what he was about to say for him to stress this point so much. Eunhae was also curious, she was sitting down at the edges of the bench.

“Please, tell me,” Haejin said.

“When we appraised Raphael’s drawing, we were all delighted. All the appraisers said that it really was Raphael’s painting.”

“They also had their reasons to say that. Luca Giordano was a genius in making forgeries, and more than five hundred years have passed since it was drawn. There is no way to find out who made it with 100% accuracy,” Haejin continued.

In 1653, Giordano was put on trial for selling a painting called Jesus Healing the Impotent Man that was in Albrecht Dürer’s style.

The funny thing was that the man who bought the painting went to an expert to have it appraised, and that expert turned out to be Luca Giordano.

At the time, he pointed at his signature which he had hidden at the back of the painting and said he was the one who made it.

The collector didn’t let that go. He had Giordano put on trial, but the judges thought he was a painter as good as Albrecht Dürer and decided to let him go.

Whether he had sold it as Dürer’s painting to fool people or the collector mistook it as Dürer’s and Giordano corrected his mistake, it is not known, but that episode let us know how great of an artist he was.

“That is why we are willing to hire experts like you, even if it costs a lot. Anyway, we were happy to see the precious treasure return to Firenze, but a week ago, Mat Vellin, my good friend, dropped by at Firenze.”

“And he raised doubts,” Haejin guessed.

Giorgio gravely nodded.

“Yes. He studied Raphael’s drawing for three hours and told me that its lines were too weak to be Raphael’s.”

Haejin couldn’t help but applaud. The awkward feeling, which he felt when he saw Raphael’s drawing for the first time, was what Mat Vellin had talked about.

“Yes, that’s exactly how it feels,” Haejin confirmed.

“When I heard that first, I… what should I say? To be honest, I felt a little insulted. I was narrow-minded. I didn’t accept the appraisal and thought optimistically. None other than me, whose duty was to preserve the artifacts of this country.”

“I can understand that, I would have reacted in the same way.”

If someone had said Kim Hongdo’s painting, in Haejin’s museum, might be fake, he wouldn’t have felt good about it.

“No, I work at the Cultural Administration. I shouldn’t have done that, never… anyway, I argued that it was real for a long time, but then, I realized arguing with Mat Vellin wasn’t important. So, I calmed down and could face the painting with objectivity again.”

“That’s good.”

Giorgio smiled bitterly and resumed his story, “Once I started to think that the painting could be fake, I started to see everything with a new perspective. Additionally, the appraisers had all given us the same conclusion as if they had planned it in advance. That worried me. Although Mat Vellin was a famous appraiser, I thought he was the best appraiser, at least in the Renaissance art.”

“And you came to me because…”

“I asked Mat Vellin if there was a non-European appraiser who was as good as… no, better than himself. I thought he would say no, and I was going to ask for his help then.”

“Hahaha! You were being smart.”

Giorgio scratched his head in embarrassment and said, “Yes. I was being smart, but as soon as I asked, he gave me your name without thinking twice. That’s why I went to Korea for the first time in my life. And as I was there, I was planning to go to Japan and find another appraiser.”

Haejin’s guess was right. However, Giorgio was being way too honest, so Haejin was surprised.

“And have you found another appraiser?” Haejin asked.

Giorgio shook his head.

“Mat Vellin said you would be enough, but a colleague of mine told me about this Japanese appraiser, so I went… but then there was no need for that. I heard about how you appraised Raphael’s painting. I came back here as soon as possible. And… I am showing you this.”

“Oh…”

Giorgio then continued, “So, to return to where I started, there is no appraiser I can trust here. That’s why I brought you here… but now I have another problem. How could they have shown you this painting? If this one right in front of me is fake…”

He imagined the worst scenario in fear.

If this were fake as he said and the painting Estila had shown Haejin earlier was real, Giorgio would have to doubt all the customs workers and officials of the Cultural Administration.

“Let’s find out if it’s real, first.”

Haejin went close to the painting. Then, he started to examine it, tracing the touch of the brush with his hand… but he stood up and looked at Giorgio in less than five minutes.

“What… is it? Is there any problem?”

It wasn’t good, Haejin touched his lips and managed to talk, “It’s… I’m afraid it’s fake.”

It was clearly fake, and he even didn’t need magic to know that.

“What? Is that true? Is it really fake?”

“It certainly is. The forger must have gotten a canvas made in the 15th century and made it… that forger had great skills, but he or she was not a good artist.”

“What do you mean by that? The forger has good skills but wasn’t a good artist?”

“He made good craquelure and used paints that were used in the 15th century. That is excellent. An appraiser who doesn’t know much about Veronese might be sure this was made in his time, but this isn’t Veronese’s color. I said the forger wasn’t a good artist because he couldn’t imitate the real painting perfectly even when he had it right next to him.”

“That is possible?”

“It happens sometimes. When a forger gets too old, he or she gets an apprentice and teaches all the skills, but there is one thing that can’t be passed down perfectly.”

Giorgio realized what he was talking about, “Painting skills!”

“Yes. A perfect forgery is more than about making it look old. What matters the most is how much you understand the artist. The forger who made this didn’t fully understand Veronese, and he needs practice with coloring as well. As you can see, he overpainted here and there. This part is also thicker and awkward compared to the other parts.”

Giorgio stroked the part Haejin pointed at with his hand. Then, he nodded, “I can see what you mean.”

Luca Giordano, who made the forgery of Raphael’s sketch, had been a great painter, so finding awkward parts of it had taken Haejin a long time. However, the maker of this painting wasn’t that good, so he could find out in no time.

It meant there would have been plenty of appraisers to identify it as fake even if it hadn’t been Haejin.

“Huh…”

Giorgio grabbed his head and fell on the floor. Haejin could guess why he was tormented so much.

He didn’t say anything and waited for Giorgio to calm down. After about five minutes, Giorgio started speaking again, “Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you, I would be planning to exhibit this painting with the director of this gallery.”

Haejin couldn’t say anything for him. He just patted his shoulder, but then, he got a call from an unfamiliar number.

“Who is it?”

“You don’t know that number?” Eunhae asked, and Haejin nodded while taking the call.

“It’s Park Haejin.”

He heard a woman’s voice that was somewhat familiar, “I see you haven’t left Italy.”

Eunhae was curious. Haejin covered his phone with his hand and explained, “It’s Estila. She knows we’re still in Italy.”

“What? How?”

“I don’t know.”

Haejin shrugged his shoulders and put the call on the speaker again.

“What do you want?”

“Let me be honest. We want to hire you as Cantieri’s appraiser. You will be given enough work so that you would be able to appraise all over Europe, and you will get to keep all the fee. We will also give you half a million dollars as the base pay.”

She was offering to give Haejin half million dollars as salary plus the additional appraisal fee. That was an unprecedented offer.

“Am I really worth that much?”

“We know many things, including information about you. Don’t refuse. It will be good for you, too. We work with Christie’s and Sotheby’s as well, so if you become our appraiser, you will get to appraise at least ten times a month. You will take at least a billion won as appraisal fee every month.”

“Haha… that’s awesome.”

That offer was good enough to tempt anyone. It couldn’t sound any better to Haejin who was always under pressure because he needed money for his museum.

“So, work with us. You’re in Venice now, right? I will go there right away with a contract.”

“Hmm… please, give me a moment. I will call you back.”

Haejin hung up and smiled at Giorgio.

“What should I do now?”

Giorgio seemed worried and said, “They are the mafia. They are offering you good terms to drag you in, but you should keep in mind that they can discard you anytime as soon as they find you useless!”

He was right, but at the same time, his warning didn’t mean anything in this situation.

“Okay then, what should I do?”

Haejin asked the same question again. Giorgio realized what he had in mind and relaxed a little.

“Just a second, just a second…”

Giorgio started to walk around in a circle, lost in thoughts. After a few minutes of that, Haejin’s phone started to buzz again.

Haejin showed it to Giorgio.

Then, Giorgio finally made up his mind and started speaking.