The sequel to Ravenscraig has taken me down a fascinating road in the study of art forgers.

Many of them have similar reasons for wanting to pass fakes into the marketplace but Mark Landis is different.

Landis is a philanthropist who donates his works to art museums and other organizations for the apparent pleasure in being treated as someone of importance. He has been creating forgeries by copying works for more than thirty years and has never been charged.  He presents his works as gifts in honor of his mother’s or father’s memory.

He sometimes dresses as a Jesuit priest to heighten the credibility of his donations.

Learning about the world of art and specifically the world of art forgery is highly entertaining, and I have decided to share links to some of my finds from time to time.

Here then is the story of Mark Landis, as told by Alec Wilkinson of The New Yorker in his feature article The Giveaway.