DRAMATIS PERSONAE
THE GENESIS OF A SCAM
John Drewe
professor, physicist, man of many guises, and the brilliant mastermind of one of the great art frauds of the twentieth century.
Batsheva Goudsmid
Drewe’s common-law wife; once loyal, she is eventually the key to his downfall.
John Myatt
impoverished painter and single father who sees Drewe as his savior.
THE GUARDIANS OF THE ARCHIVES
Bill McAlister
head of the Institute of Contemporary Arts; cannot believe his good fortune when Professor John Drewe shows up with an interest in funding the upkeep of the ICA’s rich archive.
Sarah Fox-Pitt
formidable doyenne of archive acquisition at the Tate Gallery whom Drewe reels in with lunches at Claridge’s and promises of historical documents.
THE ART DEALERS
Adrian Mibus
respected Australian gallery owner who falls for Drewe’s smoke and mirrors and buys several of Myatt’s fakes.
David Stern
Notting Hill dealer who unwittingly helps Drewe’s scam reach across the Atlantic to New York.
Armand Bartos Jr.
debonair New York dealer who still insists the “Giacometti” he bought is the best he’s ever seen.
Dominic Taglialatella
New York dealer who is taken in by one of the more expensive “Giacomettis.”
Rene Gimpel
fourth-generation art dealer nagged by misgivings about a “Ben Nicholson” until his restoration expert, Jane Zagel, confirms his worst fears.
Peter Nahum
London dealer; among the first to alert Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiques Squad that he’s been hoodwinked by a rogue.
THE UNWITTING PROVIDERS OF PROVENANCE
John Sperr
elderly antiquarian bookstore owner whose shop becomes a source of material and inspiration for Drewe’s elaborate provenance.
Father Paul Addison
head of a Roman Catholic religious order in England whose goodwill Drewe abuses to claim provenance of works from centuries-old priories.
Alan Bowness
former head of the Tate Gallery and son-in-law of the painter Ben Nicholson who innocently authenticates several fake Nicholsons.
Jane Drew
renowned British architect with close ties to Le Corbusier whom Drewe befriends, lending him a different kind of “provenance”: personal cachet.
Terry Carroll
physicist sufficiently impressed by the “professor” that he never questions Drewe’s professional provenance as a physicist until close to the end.
Daniel Stoakes
down-on-his luck childhood friend who agrees to pose as owner of a few works, only later to bemoan, “I was like a ripe plum ready to be picked from the tree.”
Peter Harris
larger-than-life personality with an early morning paper route and a penchant for war tales who Drewe fictitiously transforms into a fabled arms dealer and art collector.
THE SALES FORCE
Danny Berger
neighbor recruited by Drewe to expand his operation who successfully sells “modern masters” out of his garage.
Clive Belman
unemployed former jewelry salesman and actor who joins Drewe’s operation unaware that the product line he is hawking is the equivalent of costume jewelry.
Stuart Berkeley
a London-based runner who takes the operation worldwide.
Sheila Maskell
independent and reputable New York-based art runner who sends Armand Bartos the Giacometti Standing Nude that will eventually help break the case.
THE SKEPTICS
Mary Lisa Palmer
indefatigable director of the Giacometti Association whose persistent detective work puts her in conflict with the auction houses and galleries.
Jennifer Booth
Tate archivist who refuses to be swayed by Drewe’s benefactor status.
THE SLEUTHOUNDS
Richard Higgs
London detective who cannot pin a case of arson on John Drewe but knows a scam artist when he sees one.
Miki Volpe
scrappy detective from the Yard’s Organised Crime Unit who has never heard the word “provenance” but knows how to build a case, brush stroke by brush stroke.
Jonathan Searle
Scotland Yard detective with a Cambridge pedigree in art history who proves as skilled at spotting fakes as in tracking down thugs.