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A supposedly faked pencil drawing by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) has turned out to be an original. After comprehensive examinations – including paper and microscopic analyses – the sheet that a private owner handed over to the forgery studies collection at Heidelberg University has proved to be a hand-signed lithographic proof. The artwork originated around 1899 and portrays the famous actor and singer Amelie Diéterle (1871-1941). The lithography is to be presented to the public for the first time in an exhibition in Heidelberg’s Kurpfälzisches Museum.
Press Release
Heidelberg, 10 November 2026
Supposedly Forged Artwork by Renoir Proves to be Original
The forgery studies collection at Heidelberg University had received the print from private owner
A supposedly faked pencil drawing by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) has turned out to be an original. After comprehensive examinations – including paper and microscopic analyses – the sheet that a private owner handed over to the forgery studies collection at Heidelberg University has proved to be a hand-signed lithographic proof. The artwork originated around 1899 and portrays the famous actor and singer Amelie Diéterle (1871-1941). The lithography is to be presented to the public for the first time in an exhibition in Heidelberg’s Kurpfälzisches Museum.
In 2023 Prof. Dr. Henry Keazor, the founder of the Heidelberg forgery studies collection, was offered the work during a household clearance. The owner had received it in the 1970s from the estate of a friend who owned a gallery. After assessment by a New York gallery, however, it was classed as a fake. “While unpacking it I noticed immediately that it was a print, not an original pencil drawing,” Prof. Keazor reports. Together with his students at the Institute for European Art History of Heidelberg University he first tried to situate the apparently forged pencil drawing in the collected works of Renoir.
Historical searches showed that the motif of the portrayed actor was identical to a known lithography by Renoir from an artist’s portfolio entitled “Germinal”. This portfolio published in 1899 in a strictly limited print-off of 100 copies contains original prints by famous artists of the time, including Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. “We were able to rule out the possibility that our print was part of this portfolio,” Henry Keazor underlines. Most striking when compared to the lithographs is the hand-written signature, which appears in printed form on the individual portfolio copies.
International specialists confirmed the suspicion that they might be dealing with an original. “The signature is written by hand with black grease chalk, and the microscope showed up the structure of the autotype paper on which Renoir sketched the outline for the two stones with which the black and gray shades were printed,” the Heidelberg art historian explains. “The solution to the riddle is that the picture is a test print made with only one of the two print stones. Since the signature evidently lay on another stone, Renoir added it by hand, thereby making the proof a fully valid work.”
Henry Keazor further explains that, in the art trade, finding such test prints is an extremely rare occurrence. The print is to be displayed in a cabinet exhibition entitled “Riddle around Renoir” along with other exhibits, including a forged drawing by Renoir from the university’s forgery studies collection. It will be on show from 26 November 2026 until 21 March 2027 in the Kurpfälzisches Museum. Then, in consultation with the previous owner, a decision will be taken on where to keep the print in future.
The Heidelberg forgery studies collection was founded in 2021. It gives students the opportunity – in direct contact with the objects – to prepare themselves for possible confrontation with forged artworks in later stages in their careers. The collection is founded on cooperation with the state criminal investigation bureaus of Berlin, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, which make fakes from their property rooms available on permanent loan for research and teaching. The constantly growing collection today holds approximately 140 fake artworks from the early modern period up to the 21st century, comprising mainly prints and paintings.
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Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Jeune femme en buste, chalk lithograph / proof on vellum, 53 x 40 cm, signed ...
Source: HeFäStuS / Universität HD
Copyright: Heidelberger Fälschungs-Studiensammlung HeFäStuS
Criteria of this press release:
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Art / design, Cultural sciences, History / archaeology
transregional, national
Miscellaneous scientific news/publications, Research results
English
Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Jeune femme en buste, chalk lithograph / proof on vellum, 53 x 40 cm, signed ...
Source: HeFäStuS / Universität HD
Copyright: Heidelberger Fälschungs-Studiensammlung HeFäStuS
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