2050
Malskat, Lothar
1913 Königsberg - 1988 Lübeck.
«Nach dem Auftritt (after the show)».
Oil on plywood. Monogrammed lower middle and badly legible inscribed «L MA [...]». Verso numbered probably by a different hand «61» and titled on a label.
H 90, W 60 cm (support). Original frame.
Initially, Lothar Malskat gained fame as an art forger: in the Schleswig Cathedral and the St. Mary's Church in Lübeck, he created large picture cycles in the early Gothic style, that were celebrated as successful restorations of historical paintings. His forgeries only came to light in 1952 when the artist confessed to forgery. In the process, he also admitted to forging works by renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Picasso and Chagall, thus setting in motion what was then the largest art forgery scandal in the Federal Republic of Germany. As expected, the original and thus also signed or monogrammed works by Malskat stand out for their wide stylistic range.
Provenance: private collection Hamburg and Markgräflerland.

Condition report