Rembrandt for Sale

By Uri J. Nachimson

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the concept of artistic genius was formulated and held up as the highest human species.
Genius in art requires breaking the rules or exceeding them in ways that make them unrecognizable. There is a saying that "any sufficiently advanced skill is indistinguishable from magic." So when the Master in Art Alan De Mayo revolutionized art with his "Renaissance paintings," the response from all art critics was total astonishment, and important art critics named him Rembrandt's successor.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781446648872

Book preview

Hall of fame

The assembly hall of the Tate Gallery in the Westminster borough on the banks of the River Thames was full to the brim; all the hustle and bustle of London's high society, art collectors from New York, and museum curators from around the world were there. Well over the two hundred seats in the hall.

At precisely seven o'clock that evening, Alan De Mayo took the small stage, and the audience rose to their feet, applauding loudly. Alan placed his hands over his chest. He stood straight, looking around pleased. Then, when the applause ceased and the audience sat down, he spoke, Dear audience, I am proud to stand before you tonight and present my new work called ‘Daniel in the Lion's Den.’ It took me three years of hard work, and today I can say the work is perfect. Even Daniel would admit it. The audience burst out laughing, and some applause was heard again, but he hastened to request them to calm down.

I decided, to honor Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second, who recently awarded me the title of Knight, to donate the painting to a charity so that from here, it will be transferred to the Sotheby auction house and sold to the highest bidder. Thank you very much for your participation.

Alan De Mayo stepped down from the stage and was succeeded by a representative of the Tate Gallery. I will now present the work, and Mr. Dirk Feingold, the well-known art critic from the New York Times, is invited to express his impression of the work and comment.

One of the workers shifted the canvas that covered the large painting, leaning on a heavy three-legged easel illuminated from several directions by suffused lighting that accentuated the mystery of the painted figures.

There was complete silence in the hall, and all eyes were now turned to the illuminated oil painting. Some pulled out binoculars to see in detail the marvelous work. For long minutes Mr. Dirk Feingold stood and examined the images from every possible angle, then stepped over to the podium.

It is undoubtedly an exciting work of art. The composition of the lions looking in total submission at the dominant figure of the biblical prophet Daniel who places his hand on the lion's mane without fear. But most of all, those shadows remind me of Rembrandt's ‘Night watch’, where the details are highlighted distinctly; see the hand of the artist and the depth and arrangement of the figures in space. As with Rembrandt, there is the drama of movement and a sense of venture. The man is a genius; it's like he arrived from another planet. The painters Britton Riviera and Rubens painted the dramatic biblical scene of Daniel, but their paintings do not have the energy of this artwork.

A murmur passed through the audience. The comparison between Alan De Mayo and Rembrandt van Rijn and Rubens struck the following with astonishment. An influential art critic like Dirk Feingold compared a painting by a contemporary painter to the ingenious works of the greatest painters?

When the lights came on, and two men from the gallery stood guard on either side of the painting, the guests were treated to a traditional cocktail, but Alan was no longer in the hall.

Albino Castellani

Albino Castellani was born in Catanzaro, the capital of the Calabria region in southern Italy, to middle-class parents. His father, Pasquale, was a barber with a small shop in the suburbs, and his mother, Maria Grazia, was busy raising her six children. Pasquale was a semi-illiterate who had completed three years of elementary school and was obliged to work from the age of ten as a barbershop cleaner, where he also, over the years, learned the profession. But Maria Grazia was born into the privileged De Mayo family. One of her distant relatives was from the French Royal house of Bourbon (It was just a rumor that the family was spreading), and her father had a silk trading house. Maria Grazia was educated in a private school for girls and was the only child of her wealthy parents. In adulthood, she met Pasquale at an amusement fair in the city. Beautiful young girls always surrounded young Pasquale due to his incredible resemblance to film actor Vittorio Gassmann. She was standing near a stall selling cotton candy when he approached her and, with the charisma of a Latin Lover, offered her some. Maria Grazia refused, but his generosity and beauty captured her heart, and she fell desperately in love with him.

When she brought him home and introduced him to her parents, her father knew nothing about the guy standing before him and honored him with a glass of grappa. But, when he started questioning him, he nearly choked, and his face turned red from lack of air until a doctor was called to their home.

Since that meeting, her father had forbidden her to see him. He was so shocked by the encounter that he threatened suicide if she saw him again.

She spent many weeks crying and shutting herself in her room until she decided to give up her comfortable life and, at the first opportunity, ran away from home with her love to an apartment that Pasquale had prepared in advance.

When the search for her came didn't have any results, and her father feared for her life, he arrived at Pasquale's parent’s house and told them that he agreed to their marriage, but on one condition; he demanded that after the wedding, the couple come to live in his house.

When the two married, Maria Grazia was already at the beginning of her first pregnancy, and on the day Albino was born, her father hung himself in his study. Her mother died of grief a few months later, and Maria Grazia inherited the business and apartment they lived in.

Pasquale tried to run the trading house, but he soon found himself in heavy debt because he could barely read, and they were forced to sell the business. Maria Grazia was already in her second pregnancy when Pasquale opened the barbershop with the bit of money they had left.

Life did not smile on Albino. The situation at home was difficult, but his mother sent him to school every day to study. Albino excelled in his studies and even found time to help his father clean the store at the end of the workday. Pasquale was proud of his son, mainly because after Albino, five daughters were born one year apart.

When Albino turned eighteen, he decided to leave Catanzaro and move to Milan in northern Italy.

He applied and was accepted to the Academy of Fine Arts - Brera. Then, in early July of 1980, he packed his belongings in one suitcase and boarded a train headed north.

During his first week in Milan, Albino lived in the room of his compatriot, who had returned home for the summer. It was an apartment shared by five students, two of whom studied and three worked. One of them arranged a temporary job for him the next day, washing dishes in a restaurant.

After an evening of intense work in the restaurant's kitchen, he found a naked girl sleeping in his bed. He immediately understood what the apartment was used for and looked for another accommodation. He posted ads on supermarket billboards and, within days, had an independent studio apartment and a job as a cat handler. Cat owners who had to leave their cats for several days brought them to him for a handsome fee. When the number of cats reached twenty, he stopped getting new ones, the cats roamed every corner of the small apartment, but he preferred it over washing dishes.

When the school year opened, he stood at the gates of the Brera Academy, radiating joy. Although he got bored and missed a few lectures in the first month of the semester, he would go around the various workshops and watch the advanced students and their artwork. Then, in one of the workshops, he met Anna.

What is your name?" she asked him.

Alan, he answered.

Where are you from? she asked him curiously.

From Rome, he answered her without hesitation.

Anna Lombard was an English student who started her studies in London but quickly realized that returning to London with an academic degree from the Brera academy would give her a comparative advantage over other artists. After all, Italy is the cradle of world culture and art, she explained to her new friend Alan.

The two began visiting museums and art galleries in Milan, Florence, and Siena. For hours they sat in front of paintings in cathedrals, churches, and galleries. They looked, captivated, at oil paintings created by the great artists of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the Rococo style, temporary art, or Impressionism.

Anna helped Alan with the cats, but one day surprised him. Let's fly to London to meet my parents; you'll see, they are nice people and will welcome you. We can also visit the British Museum and the National Gallery; I invited you and will pay for everything.

Alan did not hesitate for a moment; he had never left the borders of Italy and certainly never flown in a plane. Moreover, he understood that her parents supported her financially and therefore did not object to her paying for everything.

Since he did not have a passport, he went to the Ministry of the Interior, changed his name officially from Albino to Alan on his ID card, and asked to change his family name from his father's Castellani to his mother, De Mayo. My parents are about to divorce, and I do not want to bear my father's last name, he told the clerk.

Based on these changes recorded on the ID card, he was issued a new passport with his new name, Alan De Mayo.

Anna and Sylvie

Alan and Anna would often meet after lectures and spend time together. Anna had an innate talent; everything came naturally; she breathed art and learned new painting techniques quickly. While studying art history and being careful to attend every lecture, Anna began painting in her apartment, and Alan served as her model for portraits. Being the daughter of religious parents, she respected them and refused to move in with Alan, who kept pleading with her every time they met. Finally, one day, when Anna could no longer stand the pressure, she informed him that she would leave him if he did not stop. Alan was surprised by her statement. He believed that her love for him was so immense that her heart would not allow her to leave him, and eventually, she would capitulate and move into his apartment.

If this is your answer, it seems that love has lost, and you have won. See you in lectures; I do not want to waste your precious time, he replied cynically. This time, Anna was shocked at how easily he gave up on her. She longed for him but believed that taking such a significant step required time and thought. She wanted to be sure that he was in love with her.

They shelved their plans to fly together to London and continued their everyday life separately. She devoted herself entirely to studies while Alan began to spend evenings in pubs in the company of young people he met there. He would come to lectures and workshops but found less interest in art as time passed.

At the end of the first semester, he was called to the academy's management, where he received a reprimand and was told that if he did not make sure to attend lectures and workshops, they would expel him from the academy. Fearful of returning to Catanzaro in disgrace, Alan decided to take things seriously, but he knew he must renew his relationship with Anna to help him persevere in his studies.

Anna, I made a mistake, and I'm so sorry; I love you. Would you forgive me for my behavior? he asked her when they met in one of the workshops, Let's try to be together; I promise you I'll not pressure you to move in with me.

Anna agreed, and they became close again. Anna influenced Alan to take his studies seriously, and they talked about their shared future. However, Alan seemed to need help. He attended all lectures and even tried his ability at the sculpture workshop but was unsuccessful. Then he moved on to the course of graphics but found no interest in it either. He eventually became interested in the theater background building workshop, mainly due to the many female students from the East. He liked oriental beauty, especially the delicacy of Japanese women’s facial features, so, during teamwork on a stage set, he met Sylvie Chuang.

He would encounter her on campus from time to time, exchanging smiles. She saw him flirting with Anna and kept her distance from him. Although she was aware of his attempts to get closer, she did not dare hurt another student who maybe was his girlfriend.

Do I have a chance to go out with you to a movie? There is a crazy comedy called 'Amici Miei' in the Aladdin theatre.

I wish you did not have a girlfriend, but I see you with the same girl, and I will not get between you, she replied.

Anna? She's not my girlfriend in the romantic sense; she's a close friend of mine, he replied.

Sylvie looked at him in disbelief. She knew the Italian machos were courting anything that moved and had boobs. I'll think about it, she replied.

Are you from Tokyo? he asked her to develop a different conversation.

I'm Chinese, from Hong Kong; why Tokyo? Do I look Japanese to you? she asked, laughing incredulously and blushing.

Honestly, you are all similar in facial features; however, I do not distinguish between Chinese and Japanese in language and form, he replied.

At least you're honest. You will certainly not differentiate between Korean, Filipino, or Chinese.

Alan did not want to embarrass Sylvie and replied that he did differentiate between the different peoples, but in his mind, each one with slanted eyes seemed to him Japanese.

The two formed no friendship and did not even go to see the movie. The reason was that Sylvie approached Anna and asked her directly if Alan was her boyfriend.

Of course, after Sylvie's refusal, Alan left the class of the theater stage-building workshop because he had no interest in the class itself.

When he passed one day in the painting workshop, he noticed an armchair on a podium on which a naked model was lying, and students were painting her from every possible angle. Alan decided that this class was suitable for him, and he signed up for the next semester for this group.

Alan tried his hand at painting; he looked enviously at the talented students who applied paints directly from the tube to their canvases and, with the help of a brush and acquired techniques, began to form a creation. The teachers would go around expressing their opinions and try to give ideas and corrections, and Alan would sit for hours in front of the white canvas and look around without being inspired to touch the colors. Maybe take a photo of some famous artwork and try to copy it, the teacher suggested.

A replica is a well-known and accepted approach to studying technics. The artist is trying to copy exactly the original one, and in museums, you can see painters standing with their easels in front of an exposed work and replicating their detail. There is also a demand for replicas of famous paintings, and if they are close to the original, their price can reach tens of thousands of dollars. After Alan failed to develop his own idea and style, he heard this from one of his teachers, who tried to encourage him to draw.

Who buys these replicas? Alan asked, intrigued.

Not very rich people who can't afford to buy an original Van Gogh, for example, order a replica and hang it in their house to impress their circle of friends. Those who own a work of art worth a fortune and fear burglars breaking into their house, they hide it in a safe and hang a replica instead.

Alan smiled; he had never thought of that possibility. There are fakes and tricks in the art business, too, he thought.

Alan now had an approach that he decided to satisfy. He finally saw his future as a replica painter and knew that with the help of his commercial sense, he would also be able to market his works.

Then he decided to tell Anna about his finding and chose to surprise her. That same evening he booked a place at a local pizzeria not far from her apartment, and a quarter of an hour before, he arrived at her apartment and knocked on the door. He waited a few minutes and struck again, then pressed his ear to the door and heard noises and whispers inside the apartment. Knowing that she lived alone, he didn't suspect that she was in the company of another man. When he waited another ten minutes outside and saw that she was not opening, he decided to find out and see who was with her. He stood hidden across the street and kept an eye on the entrance.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and a female figure ran out and disappeared down the street. Alan waited another ten minutes and knocked again on the door. Anna opened it for him and looked very surprised. What are you doing here? she asked.

If you do not want to see me, I'm going, he replied.

No, I'm just surprised; come on in.

Alan had known her apartment since he modeled for her, but now the arrangement was different. Instead of the single bed, she had a double one; all the canvases along the wall and the finished paintings were gone. He also noticed that the closet was divided into two, and its order had changed. Alan did not ask questions, but Anna saw his looks. I took a roommate because I need the money, she hurried to say.

Alan did not buy the explanations; he stood and knocked on the door for a quarter of an hour when they were inside, and she did not open it for him, the girl who escaped as soon as he left, and the double bed. Then, finally, he decided not to embarrass her and moved to another topic. When are we going to London as planned? he asked.

Anna wanted to answer and started stuttering, blushing on her cheeks. I do not know; we will wait a bit. I have no money at the moment.

Alan knew that she was lying to him. She wanted to finance their joint trip, and when they went out, she always hurried and paid for the meals and entertainment. Still, he decided not to say anything so as not to deteriorate their relationship.

After offering him coffee, they arranged to meet the next day on campus. Introduce to me your roommate; maybe we can go out, the three of us, he told her before closing the door with apparent cynicism. Although Anna looked at him without replying, she realized he understood.

That evening Alan could not fall asleep. He thought about his relationship with Anna, the first kiss, the hug, their mutual declarations of love, and her offer to travel to London together. Then they quarrel because of her not agreeing to move in with him. Finally, he realized that he had lost Anna and, therefore, he must confront his future in art alone.

Alan began attending painting workshops and took every lesson; he began copying paintings by famous painters and especially liked contemporary Italian painters Virgilio Guidi and Pompeo Bora.

Alan traveled several times to the Museum of Art in Modena, where he saw works by Guidi and Bora. He sat for hours admiring Pompeo Bora's postmodern paintings with the characters' bright colors and profound synthesis. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Bora abandoned painting his monuments and moved on to painting figures in a colorful metaphysical atmosphere. Alan especially loved Bora since he read that he had been a teacher at the Brera Academy, where he was studying now. Virgilio Guidi died in 1984 in Venice, a city the artist lived, breathed, and painted. He had won countless awards, especially the Venice Biennale from the 1920s to the late 1940s. Particularly, Alan loved the fifties period in which Guidi painted figures in bright and bold colors. Unfortunately, he later commercialized and made his painting so abstract that it was incredibly disrespectful when he painted his famous Marina di Venezia in bulk.

The Marina of Venezia

Alan would walk around with his easel and frame stretched with canvas. He loved the admiring looks of the people he met on his way down the street. So he bought himself a plaid casket hat and grew a trim beard on his chin.

His painting teacher saw potential in Alan and motivated him when he encouraged him to continue practicing the replica method. To become a painter, a person needs talent and much perseverance, the teacher repeated.

Alan's replicas were good, especially Bora's postmodern paintings. Guidi's marinas were quickly copied. One day, he got the idea to forge Guidi's signature and sell the picture as an original. He photographed the signature from the painting in the museum, enlarged the photograph, and practiced signing for long hours until he could accurately copy the signature, which was quite simple; Virgilio Guidi would write his last name, Guidi, as a signature.

Alan decided to visit the Santorini Gallery in Padua, where Guidi's marina paintings were sold. So he traveled by train from Milan to Padua, carrying the fake painting picture in his briefcase.

He found the owner busy with a client when he entered the gallery. He noticed two framed paintings of equal sizes hanging on the wall. His heart was pounding, and his hands were shaking. For a moment, he was thinking of turning around and out of the gallery when he suddenly noticed an unframed painting of the marina lying on brown wrapping paper that had apparently been received at the gallery shortly before. He approached it and looked out of the corner of his eye at the gallery owner, who showed the client a painting that interested him, and he wanted to see it in proper lighting. While the gallery owner went to get another lamp, Alan took the fake painting out of his bag and switched between them. Then he went to take a closer look at the illuminated picture and asked the gallery owner if she had a painting print by Marc Chagall. Responding in the negative, he thanked her and left the gallery. Alan took a taxi and arrived within a few minutes at the train station to return to Milan.

With Virgilio Guidi's original painting in his briefcase, Alan realized he could now go into any gallery and offer the painting without fear.

When he returned home