Last laugh to art faker

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 26

Last laugh to art faker

By

DIANA DEKKER,

in London

Tom Keating, the art faker who died a fortnight ago. may have left his greatest joke against the art establishment to posterity. The “Mail on Sunday” newspaper said on Sunday that he claimed before he died that he had infiltrated two of his counterfeits into Britain’s National Gallery. The newspaper said the claim, which would doubtless have had gallery experts up early on Monday checking their 2000 treasures, had been relayed to a longstanding and close friend of Mr Keating. Mr Herbert Flatman, a retired decorator, told the “Mail on Sunday” that the secret had been confided to him several times. “I know he was a humorous sort of man, but he was always straight with me. He would never say which the two paintings were. He

would just laugh if you asked any more," Mr Flatman said. The newspaper said that Mr Keating had told Geraldine Norman, “The Times” journalist who wrote his biography, that he had not revealed everything to her and that he had left a complete list of fakes with a friend, to be revealed after his death. Mr Flatman said he knew of no such list. A spokesman for the National Gallery said, “bravely” according to the “Mail,” that it would be interested to hear which paintings he had in mind, but was fairly sure all its paintings were genuine. Keating paintings have already started to come on to the market at inflated prices in London. An advertisement in the “Financial Times” on Saturday offered a “set of five” for offers over £29,000. Mr Keating, who was 66, died of a heart complaint.