READING PASSAGE

A successful artist?

Shaun Greenhalgh had made his living as an artist – and made it well. Working with his family he had made nearly a million pounds from the sale of his works – something any aspiring artist might well dream of. But there was a catch.

It was in 2006 that his career came to an abrupt end, in a massive scandal that rocked the art world and came to be splashed across the global media. (1) ________ They were clever forgeries that had succeeded in tricking some of the UK’s premier experts in art and antiquities over a period of almost two decades.

Working with his parents, he would choose an object to forge, based on careful research and meticulous planning. It was Shaun who produced the cleverly aged artifacts: paintings, sculptures, bass reliefs and figurines, in his shed in the family’s garden. He would then create documents to provide the all-important ‘provenance’ – the proof of origin – without which no antique can be taken seriously. Armed with the documents his father would approach a gallery or museum, and  make enquiries about selling a piece – telling the buyer that it had been in their family for years, and they were just interested to know how much it might be worth… (2)_________ 

Shaun Greenhalgh and his parents have been described as , “possibly the most diverse forgery team in the world, ever” in recognition of the range of works that they successfully passed off as genuine artefacts. (3) _________When they tried to sell a series of ancient Assyrian carvings to the British Museum in 2005, an expert spotted an error in the ancient cuneiform script, and suspicions were raised. The resulting investigation led to the arrest of all three members of the family.

Had the Greenhalghs managed to sell all of their artefacts, it is speculated that they would have netted closer to £10 million in the lifetime of their ‘family business’. (4) _________When police raided their house, despite finding half a million in the bank, they reported that the family were living in poverty. Although he was a talented artist, Shaun had left school at 16 with no qualifications. It was while working, in a legitimate job as an antiques dealer, that he came to resent the art market and the art establishment that he felt was closed to him.

(5)_______Commentators speculate that it was this resentment which drove him to dupe the experts he had come to despise. Sean Greenhalgh’s work was the subject of an exhibition at the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2010.