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Friday, May 24, 2013

Operation "Rainbow" seizes near 300 fake paintings in Portugal

 In the scope of investigations concerning art faking and forgery, the Lisboa e Vale do Tejo Directory of the Portuguese Judiciary Police, initiated an operation entitled "Arco-íris" (Rainbow).
During the operation, the involved agents managed to detect and seize near 300 presumably fake paintings, allegedly by the renowned artists Paula Rego and António Palolo.

 The paintings, found in the possession of several merchants and collectors, were apprehended in the sequence of persistant investigation and house searching in the city of Lisbon and around its outskirts. The authorities also managed to find and apprehend some fake authenticity certificates corroborating the authenticity of the artworks.

 For its unprecedented number of fakes focusing on just two authors, the result of this investigation is the biggest of its genre accomplished in Portugal up to date.

 An antiques dealer, found in the possession of several artworks and suspected of introducing fake paintings into the art market, was constituted defendant.

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