Holy Hoaxes: A Beautiful Deception

A selection of nearly seventy fakes and forgeries of famous illuminated manuscripts from the Voelkle Collection.

This fascinating book tells the story of the building of William M. Voelkle’s collection of fakes and forgeries of manuscript illumination. With thorough essays and beautiful illustrations, Voekle tells the story of nearly seventy fakes and forgeries.

This illustrated catalog presents a group of nearly seventy fakes and forgeries that display astonishing breadth. They include not only the Spanish Forger and other Western European miniatures by Ernesto Sprega, Caleb William Wing, Germano Prosdocimi, and others, but fascinating examples from the Christian East, Ethiopia, Mexico, Persia, and India. Published here in its entirety for the first time, the Voelkle Collection is the only comprehensive collection of fakes and forgeries of manuscript paintings in private hands.

Including an engaging introduction by Christopher de Hamel that raises tantalizing questions about the meaning of authenticity and our fascination with forgery, the book takes the reader on a journey that sheds light on the nature and detection of forgery of manuscript illumination.