Institute of European Art History HeFäStuS (Heidelberg Forgery Study Collection)

In spring 2021, the Heidelberg Forgery Study Collection HeFäStuS was founded under the motto “Learning what is right from what is false.”

While engagement with forgeries has generally been neglected in art history training to date, students here can now come into direct contact with the objects and thus prepare for possible later encounters with forgeries in professional life. In recurring seminars and workshops, supplemented by guest lectures and excursions, participants learn to identify conspicuous features and scientific approaches, and independently examine the material character and provenance of forged artworks from the collection without the usual hesitation.

Fundamental to the collection is a collaboration with the three State Criminal Police Offices of Berlin, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg, which provide forgeries from their evidence rooms on loan for research and teaching. In addition, forgeries from private sources now also enter the collection regularly. The steadily growing collection currently holds around 140 works by forged artists from the Early Modern period to the 21st century, consisting for the most part of prints and paintings.