Who can be harmed by art fraud besides collectors who buy fake artworks?

Beyond collectors who purchase forged works, art fraud harms several other groups and entities:

• Artists: The creators themselves are victims when their work is misattributed, plagiarized, or when their reputation is compromised by the circulation of inferior forgeries attributed to them.12
• Museums: Institutions may suffer significant financial losses if they use public or donated funds to acquire fraudulent works. Furthermore, museums face reputational damage and embarrassment when they are forced to acknowledge that items in their collections are inauthentic.1
• Countries of Origin: Nations, particularly developing countries, are harmed when valuable cultural artifacts are smuggled out of the country under false pretenses, depriving them of their cultural patrimony.1
• The Public and Scholars: Art fraud distorts the historical and aesthetic record. By presenting a false understanding of an artist’s work or an ancient culture, forgeries misguide those who study art history, leading to a perversion of the truth that hinders a genuine appreciation of authentic artistic achievements.13