Polychromed oil on canvas painting of a Geisha with Fan by Jacques Harvey.

The artist considered to be the world’s greatest “forger” of pictorial art was born in France (Paris ) in 1939.
“I spent days in the most important Italian, French, Dutch and Russians museums. I studied hundreds of paintings, searching for the minutest details that would allow me to gain a better understanding of each master’s ‘construction’. I studied them voraciously, year after year: the glazes of Leonardo Da Vinci, the impressionists’ and Van Gogh’s impastos became familiar to me to the point of becoming automatic reflexes. With all due modesty, I genuinely believe that I am the only painter today whose knowledge spans 500 years of experience, beginning from the Renaissance, as goes without saying.”
A voracious reader, Harvey’s own library contains approximately 2,000 books representing 500 years of work in art, art history, technique and more.
Harvey’s “in the style of” career began in 1970 when his second wife’s godfather, a wealthy Palm Beach businessman, went to visit them in Paris in search of original works by Picasso, Chagall, and Monet. After a fruitless quest, he went home and Harvey went to work creating his own Monet and his own Renoir, which were promptly purchased by this Florida contact.
“He ordered 40 more” Harvey says. “ I knew I was on my way, but I also knew that it was just the first of many steps towards my own Sistine Chapel.”
“Naturally, after forty years of professional experience I have developed my own personal style. Every 2 years I present my new works in an art gallery of my choice. However, several times a year, I feel a deep-seated need to create works in the style of one or other of my fellow artists from the past. For a number of hours Harvey no longer exists; I become Picasso, Matisse or Van Gogh... I invent a work. I only copy the technique and style.”


Approximate Site Size: 41" H x 30.5" W
Approximate Size Including Frame: 47.75" H x 37.5" W

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