MEP tries to save fake art from flames

As the Yorkshire Post reported yesterday, Martin Lane bought Nude 109-10 in 1992 for £100,000 believing it was a genuine work by French-Russian artist Marc Chagall. But after sending it to the Chagall Committee in Paris for verification, he has been told it is a fake which must be burned in front of magistrates.

Mr Lang, 63, whose plight was highlighted on Sunday’s BBC One show Fake or Forgery, has instead asked the committee to mark the painting as a forgery and return it to him, or give him a guarantee he will be reimbursed if later ruled as genuine.

He has been backed by Edward McMillian Scott, Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and Humber, who has written to the EU Internal Market commissioner Michel Barnier calling on him to intervene and set up a petition on campaign website 38 degrees.

He said: “Burning it now would be a senseless act of destruction that would deter people from authenticating their paintings in future. I hope that common sense will prevail and that a less drastic alternative can be found. At the very least, the picture should be kept so it can be used as evidence in any future criminal proceedings. By all means let’s take decisive action to deal with forgeries, but we should be punishing the perpetrators not the victims.”