The Old York Road Historical Society will host a presentation by Tom Keels titled “Rogues’ Gallery: When Rich People Spend Good Money on Bad Art” on Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30pm at Abington Friends Meeting, The John Barnes Room, 520 Meetinghouse Road, Jenkintown.

This is the second lecture of the society’s spring lecture series, which is sponsored by a grant from the Jenkintown Lyceum. From the description:

For those climbing the social ladder, assembling a world-class art collection has always been a golden ticket to the top ranks of society.  But in their haste to reach the top, many arrivistes have fallen victim to fraudsters. The Roman poet Horace wrote that “He who knows a thousand works of art knows a thousand frauds.

During the Renaissance, a young artist named Michelangelo fooled a prince of the church into buying an ancient Roman statue that Michelangelo himself had carved and antiqued. In early 20th century Philadelphia, both multi-millionaire P.A.B. Widener and legal eagle John G. Johnson paid a not-so-small fortune to a European grifter named Leo Nardus who supplied them with da Vincis, Rembrandts, Vermeers, and other Old Masters – all of which were completely bogus.

Later, both men would redeem themselves by assembling world-class collections which they donated to the National Gallery of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. As the recent scandals involving Knoedler & Co. and other dealers and auction houses prove, the art world remains a frenzied vanity fair, where wealthy status-seekers fling away their fortunes in exchange for masterpieces which turn out to be mere dross.

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Photos: OYRHS