It is a known fact that Daumier had complained repeatedly about the numerous “fake Daumiers” that were in circulation with “fake Daumier signatures” and being sold as authentic creations by Daumier. Of course he could not even imagine how many fakes would appear on the art market after his lifetime and continue to this day to flood the market.
Jean-François MILLET (1814-1875), a French painter, was a friend of Honoré Daumier and member of the Barbizon school of painters. Surely he could not have imagined the “career” of his grandson Jean Charles Millet and one can only be grateful that neither he nor Daumier lived to find out…
Read here an article from 2018 that had appeared in TIME MAGAZINE on Monday, May 19, 1930 under the title “Art: Fond Grandson”.
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“Jean Charles Millet, 32, of Barbizon, France, was extremely fond of his grandfather. Who, indeed, would not be fond of such a forbear as the late great Jean Francois Millet, painter of The Angelus and Man With Hoe? So fond was Grandson Jean Charles that last week he was ignominiously thrust into a jail in Melun. For his fondness sprang from the fact that he had been able to use his grandfather’s illustrious name in a scheme to bilk the public.
Could they observe the careers of their grandsons, most great men would be moved either to laughter or tears. Grandfather Millet was simple, pious, one generation removed from the soil. His first artistic efforts occurred after he had studied some Biblical engravings. He righteously abandoned the painting of nudes after he had learned to do them splendidly. It is not difficult to imagine how he would have regarded the story, pieced together from rumors, which was being circulated last week while his grandson awaited trial. The story:
Grandson Millet procured the services of Paul Cazeau, artist, onetime house painter, whom he urged to a prolific aping of the manner of Grandfather Millet. To Artist Cazeau’s canvases Grandson Millet then affixed his grandfather’s initials. In Paris he discovered one Rudolfo Perez y Montalbo playing a guitar on the streets. Impressed by the man’s name and aspect, Grandson Millet pressed him into_ service as a connoisseur. The guitarist’s job was to attest solemnly, wordily that the works of Cazeau were, in truth, the works of “that luminous master of the Barbizon school—Jean Francois Millet.”
So successful were the trio that they soon added bogus Corots, Degas, Daumiers, Sisleys and Pissarros to their stock. Some of these sold as high as $10,000. On the untidy profits, Grandson Millet’s wife and children thrived. When he was apprehended, the police reported that he had sold more than 4,000 fakes. Cheery, un- daunted, he admitted that the collection he had sold to the Millet Museum at Barbizon was entirely sham. Said he: “I had a good time, but this is the unconventional unhappy ending. The Americans from Missouri, the Continentals and the English fell the hardest. I hope to emerge triumphant, and go back into the art selling business.”
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The DAUMIER REGISTER dedicates a section in this website to FAKES AND IMITATIONS
and furthermore clearly classifies in the Register all works as “ORIGINALS” or “AFTER DAUMIER” or “UNCONFIRMED” in order to make the collector aware of eventual fake Daumiers.
We also urge collectors to make use of the Daumier Register’s AUTHENTICATION AND APPRAISAL SERVICE .
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