The widow of one of Australia's most popular artists, d'Arcy Doyle, may have unwittingly authenticated dozens of fake paintings that were produced in Taiwan carrying her famous late husband's signature.
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''Well, that's no good,'' Jennefer Doyle told The Sun-Herald, when informed she had vouched for at least one fraudulent work, Kites in Full Flight, after it was deemed a fake by a Sydney auction house last October.
As his next of kin and sole copyright holder, Mrs Doyle has authenticated hundreds of her late husband's paintings in the past two years, charging $290 for the service.
Like many alleged Doyles sold by the disgraced art dealer Ron Coles, Kites in Full Flight had been produced on a specific herringbone-pattern board from Asia never available in Doyle's day. In fact, according to Australia's leading forensic art fraud scientist, Robyn Sloggett, no Australian supplier is known to have ever stocked it.
Ms Sloggett said: ''We have not been able to find any evidence of an Australia supplier for this board. We've had indications from colleagues in Asia that it sits with board available there.''
''It's possible,'' said Mrs Doyle when informed of the news.
''I mean, there's no university degree in authentication but I did know his paintings well.''
When asked if her husband may have ever independently imported board from Asia, she said: ''No, not to my knowledge.''
Doyle's paintings depicting pastoral Australia in the 1930s and '40s were very popular. Thousands of prints were sold and his work was also licensed for use on calendars and biscuit tins. His sentimental vignettes are so ubiquitous that the Australian Reproductions website estimates that as many as one in four Australians have one of his prints.
Doubt was cast on the authenticity of some works when the gallery of his agent, Ron Coles, was raided in 2009 and found to contain forgeries of works by Arthur Streeton, Pro Hart and David Boyd. Mrs Doyle then stepped forward to become the overriding authority on whether paintings sold by Coles and carrying her husband's name were genuine or not.
After the 2009 raid, she cast her eye over 90 alleged Doyles that were among the 400 suspect paintings seized by detectives.
"They're all d'Arcy W. Doyles, no doubt about it,'' she told The Sun-Herald in February 2009, adding she hoped people's ''faith would be restored'' by the news.
In giving the works the thumbs up, she also acknowledged that Coles had been ''a friend'' who would never have deliberately set out to hurt anyone.
A month later, she arrived in Manly and viewed 150 paintings in one day alone - attaching a sticker of approval to each one.
Many of those works were produced on herringbone-patterned board. One Sydney art expert remarked: ''The board was a major concern; some of the actual paintings even more so.''
When the Morpeth Gallery owner, Trevor Richards, bought Kites in Full Flight sight unseen from Davidson Auctions in Sydney last October, he quickly realised the painting was a fake.
Mr Richards, who has specialised in Doyles for more than 20 years, said: ''I knew immediately it was a fake. The auction house took back the painting, contacted the owner and refunded the money. That was the last I thought I'd ever see of it. I was wrong.''
Last week, Mr Richards was contacted by a woman who wanted to sell the same painting. Mr Richards told her: ''I have seen this painting before and it is a fake. You tried to sell it at Davidson Auctions in October last year?''
''Yes that's true,'' she replied, ''but [that was] before I took it to Queensland to have it authenticated by [Jennefer] Doyle, which she has.''
He told the woman: ''It cannot be an original by d'Arcy W. Doyle; as such, it is a fake - no matter who authenticates it.''
In the past two years, Mr Richards has viewed more than 100 Doyle paintings, all on the same board, all offloaded by Coles at a time when he was desperately trying to keep angry investors at bay. One investor, Bruce Bushell, has previously confirmed to The Sun-Herald he is stuck with five of the fake Doyles.
The Sun-Herald is also aware of a man in Windsor who personally flew Mrs Doyle to Sydney to authenticate eight works - all on the same Asian board. One features an ''Arnott's'' biscuit sign spelled incorrectly - while others feature young children with Asiatic features. All were deemed genuine by Mrs Doyle on the day.
When asked how many paintings she had authenticated and how many fakes she had identified, Mrs Doyle replied: ''Couldn't give you an estimate how many I've done, but never spotted a fake, no.'' She added: ''To be honest I thought this had all died down and gone away.''
An art expert, Michael Reid, said of the situation: ''This is just another example of a lack of qualified people giving advice well outside their depth. It also demonstrates, yet again, why the art industry needs to be externally regulated.''
eduff@sunherald.com.au
