In 1962, the Taft Museum of Art received an artwork as part of a donation - a beautiful painting depicting the crucifixion of Jesus. For the next sixty years it was believed to have been the work of an Italian Renaissance master. In reality, it was a fake.
There’s an exhibition opportunity in fakes. Any institution that’s been around long enough will have acquired loads of them, sure as scale build-up in a coffee machine. Grow a pair and air that reputational dirty laundry: here are the objects of supreme craftsmanship that royally screwed us over, and their insane backstories. Challenge the public’s notion of the concepts involved.
All of this makes me wonder what actual protocol is. I fear it involves some combination of litigation, destruction, on-sale and permanent storage instead of anything constructive.