Chapter 198: What Happened in Austria (3)

Along with Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele was one of the master artists of Austria.

But there were people who don’t like his paintings as most of them are about eroticism.

He painted nude, sexual organs, and even scenes of sex and homosexuality.

However, this Sunflowers painting wasn’t about that kind of eroticism, anyone could enjoy it.

“Even if this is fake, with this quality, it is definitely worth 5000 euros. Congratulations,” Haejin said.

Cavani burst into laughter, “Haha! It almost feels like I forced you to say that. It is such a pleasant experience to get celebrated for buying it at 5000 euros.”

But then, Silvia, who had been watching quietly, asked, “Have you done research on Karl Grunwald?”

Karl Grunwald became friends with Egon Schiele during World War 1. He was very close to Schiele and even did a portrait model for him.

Cavani was impressed.

“Ah! You are truly wise. I haven’t thought of it. If this painting is real, I must look for Grunwald’s descendants. Maybe they know something.”

As Grunwald was a merchant who collected antiques, he owned a number of valuable works of art. However, after Austria merged with Germany, he decided to flee.

He ran away from the Nazi with a few of Egon Schiele’s paintings that he had in Vienna, but unfortunately, he couldn’t take Sunflowers as it was in Strasbourg.

Eventually, after the Nazi took Strasbourg, they stole the painting. Then, it resurfaced on an auction between the stolen artifacts in 1942.

After that, Grunwald and his son tried many times to get it back.

Although Cavani was impressed, Haejin wasn’t that surprised.

It was because of that feeling that he would get from a fake painting.

However, he wasn’t disappointed. He thought that since it was of great quality, the forger must have had the real painting next to him when he had made it.

“Then, I should start appraising.”

He slowly examined it, and he couldn’t help but be impressed.

Egon Schiele was deeply influenced by Gustav Klimt who was like his artistic father. But afterward, he got away from Klimt’s style and created his own unique and powerful outline.

This painting had his own style and even his unique gloomy mood. It was hard to think of it as fake.

If Haejin hadn’t learned magic, he would have never thought it was fake. However, it was strange as the merchant who had sold it had been so sure that it was fake.

“I must congratulate you once again for buying this at 5000 euros. It is remarkable, but… why did that merchant think this was fake?” Haejin asked.

Cavani collected his thoughts and then explained, “He said he had bought it at an extremely old antique shop in Berlin. The seller even told him that it was a great fake that would fool most appraisers, and the forger was a master like Tom Keating, Eric Hepburn, and Mark Landis. So, I asked if he wasn’t tempted at all. I would have given 5 million euros without thinking twice if he had said it was real, but then he smiled.”

“Why did he smile?” Haejin asked.

“I wondered that as well and asked. He said credibility was everything to him, and he would be left with nothing without it. He then added he would be in jail in no time if he had made the wrong decision, and I couldn’t argue anymore,” Cavani answered.

Haejin thought it was odd. That merchant had sold a real painting and a fake painting of great quality as fakes…

If he had said they were both real, he would have gotten millions of euros in cash.

“That merchant is really impressive,” Haejin commented.

“That is why I have so many questions for him. At the time, I couldn’t ask as I didn’t know about the paintings’ authenticity, but I can ask now.”

Cavani remained calm.

He never showed the changes in his emotion like a true leader of a prestigious family.

“Hmm… I see.”

Haejin sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t find any evidence of the painting being fake.

It had Egon Schiele’s unique gloomy colors, his powerful outlines, and the feeling of life and death.

Haejin had planned to use magic to find out about the forger and the seller, but he was a little disappointed to not find anything.

Seeing a fake that he couldn’t discern with his own skills felt as if he was being defeated by the forger.

At first, he tried to find some proof without using magic because he was worried about not being able to tell others even if he knew that it was fake. In fact, there might not be any evidence just like before.

So, he then used magic to look into the past, but he was startled and took a step back.

Silvia saw this and came to take his hand. She asked, “Are you okay? Is there something wrong?”

She meant about using magic.

When they were alone, she always warned him that the chosen’s power enabled one to do anything, but it sometimes destroyed its master.

“No, it’s not it… I was just a little surprised. May I turn off the lights?”

At this, Silvia went back to her sit. Cavani gulped hard and nodded, “Yes.”

He turned off the lights, and immediately the room became dark. They could not even see their own hands.

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Haejin took out a small lamp and looked at the painting with it.

10 minutes went by in the darkness. Then, Haejin stood up while saying, “We can turn on the lights now.”

The room became bright again. Cavani couldn’t wait anymore, he stood up and asked, “Why were you surprised? And why did you turn out the lights? I am very eager to know.”

“Oh, first of all, this painting is fake. However, the forger is a great artist. I almost gave up on it.”

Haejin was telling the truth.

If he hadn’t looked into the past to find out that the forger hadn’t made a rough sketch before painting it, he would have had to give up and go home.

“I also acknowledge the forger’s skills. I would like to see him work myself. But why is this painting fake?” Cavani asked.

Haejin explained, “Egon Schiele used strong and lively outlines. So, he must have drawn rough sketches many times before painting on it. However, this painting has no sketches. It means…”

“It is an imitation. Remarkable. How did you find out that there was no rough sketch?”

Actually, Haejin had prepared some scientific tools before he got there.

He had set an appraisal room in his museum, and he also wanted to use science to make his work easier as much as he could.

He had brought a few things when he came to Austria because he didn’t want to be forced to not tell the truth just because there was no evidence, and one of them was this special UV lamp.

Silvia had gotten it for him, and it enabled Haejin to find out if there were rough sketches or not.

It was very fortunate that he got to appraise a fake without a rough sketch right after he got it.

“This is a special UV lamp. I can check if there is a rough sketch or not with this,” Haejin replied.

“Oh, I see.”

Haejin explained, “This was certainly not made recently. Most museums do this kind of scientific analysis these days, and even auctions agencies like Christie’s and Sotheby’s do it, so there is no reason for such a skilled forger to leave out the rough sketch.”

“Then…”

Haejin concluded, “It was made in the 1960s or before that. There must have been no reason to bother to draw a sketch before scientific means of appraisal became popular. Of course, now he would draw the sketch and paint on it to fool science.”

Cavani looked excited as he nodded.

It was probably because he was sure he had found a lead to the organization that had stolen the Nazi’s paintings.

“Then what are you going to do now?” Haejin asked.

Cavani answered, “Now I feel relieved to know it is fake. I have called the merchant, so why don’t we have dinner while we wait?”

“It would be my honor,” Haejin replied.

“Oh, and you will get your fee in time after three days.”

“Thank you.”

They had agreed on Haejin’s fee before he arrived in Vienna.

The Medici family accepted his terms of 1% of the appraised price and even offered an additional bonus.

After that, they had a pleasant dinner and went out to the wide garden to have dessert while looking at the starry night sky.

“My father liked Egon Schiele’s paintings a lot. However, by the time he became interested in them, they had already gotten quite expensive, and my mother didn’t like them as they were indecent. But it feels so strange to get one of his painting now.”

“It is a little hard to believe a Medici didn’t like a painting because it was indecent,” Haejin commented.

Cavani smiled bitterly at this and said, “Actually, it is a little embarrassing to say this to an outsider, but my father had affairs with many women, like Egon Schiele’s father.”

“Oh… that explains why your mother didn’t like Egon Schiele’s paintings.”

Egon Schiele’s father had syphilis and even transferred it to his pregnant wife, making her miscarry the child.

As Egon Schiele’s sister also died of congenital syphilis, his interest and fear for sexuality eventually showed itself in his paintings.

“We made such great progress on your day of arrival, so I feel we will get good results afterward. If we get lucky, we might be able to find a lot of the lost Nazi artifacts,” Cavani commented.

“I hope so, too…”

But then, a servant came to them and said, “Mr. Matias is here.”

The conversation stopped there, and the silhouette of an old man came very slowly.

He was small and couldn’t walk with ease, so he was clearly very old.

“Welcome. I apologize for calling you so suddenly,” Cavani said.

“Haha… how can I say no to your request when I make my living with paintings?”

Cavani and the man appeared to be very close, but Haejin couldn’t say anything as he was too shocked.

Although the man was old, he could recognize his face.

He was the forger he had seen through magic.