Chapter 14: The Meaning of Lion Tamer (2)
Even Byeongguk, surprised, grabbed Haejin’s arm. Haejin went too far against Sungjun, the most powerful man in Korea.
However, Haejin kept calmly speaking to Sungjun.
“Max Beckmann was a great artist. I remember that this painting was in the Rempart auction at K?ln. When was it…”
“2011.”
The girl had been sneering at Haejin a moment ago, but now, she stared at Haejin without any expression, just like Sungjun.
“I don’t know how this painting got here, but there has been a mistake.”
“What mistake? What nonsense are you bringing here?”
Haejin smiled at her.
“This isn’t a painting of Max Beckmann.”
The painting caught Heajin’s eyes the moment he entered the house, even without using magic.
There was only one reason: he had seen the real painting with his own eyes.
“That is absurd. You dare to say my dad’s painting is fake? You are making fools out of all the curators and appraisers of the Haevici Gallery, I cannot let you get away with this. Dad, we should call the police, now!”
The girl threw a tantrum as if she had been openly insulted. Unlike her, Sungjun quietly stared at Haejin with angry eyes and then opened his mouth.
“You say things for which you cannot take the responsibility.”
“Do I? Then, you can call the police. I don’t know what charges I would get but since I have offended Hwajin, my life won’t be easy from now on.”
Haejin was confident as if saying ‘bring it on’. Even Minsung glanced at Sungjin. Judging from Haejin’s attitude, there was something…
“Why do you think that it is a forgery?”
“I am an appraiser. I cannot tell you that for free.”
The mood turned serious, but the bomb Haejin threw made the place freeze as if they were in Siberia.
Shocked, Minsung yelled, “Where do you think you are? This isn’t a place for your jokes!”
“I wasn’t joking, but I am sorry if you felt that way. But… you are not going to get it appraised for free, right? Honestly, telling you it’s a fake was a genuine favor from me.”
Byeongguk watched the things going. He put down the box and stood behind Haejin. He gulped hard.
As it was too late to stop Haejin, he could only support him.
“Fine. I cannot have it appraised for free. Name your price.”
“1% of the appraised price. That’s my fee.”
Things were getting even more serious.
“Dad! I think he is mad. Are you going to keep listening?”
Sungjun’s daughter yelled that they should call the police right away. The moment they accepted the fee, they would be giving this stranger tens of million won. If the other corporation-owner families found out about this, they would get mocked. That was why she was so mad.
Sungjun, who had been watching as if saying, ‘Do whatever you want’, now shook his finger at Haejin.
With a loud voice, he said, “Director Lee, check who he is. If you are talking nonsense, you will pay for it. 1% of the appraised price? You will get it but, if you are wrong, I will get that money back and throw you into prison, so start talking.”
Haejin could feel that the magic had certainly changed him. Anyone would have shivered at this, but he wasn’t nervous at all.
“Okay. Then, I will tell you what the fee is before I tell you why it’s fake. When it was on the Rempart auction, this painting was sold at 864,000 Euro. Now, the price would be higher, but let’s ignore that and set my fee according to that price. The fee is twelve million. Do you agree to it?”
This time, Minsung chimed in.
“You said 1% of the appraised price, so if this is fake, the fee cannot be twelve million. Right?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you this. Even if it is a fake, the fee is set according to the real painting’s price. If you don’t want it, you can refuse.”
“Ha… what the…”
Minsung looked at Sungjun. He was asking his boss if he was going to accept this crazy deal.
“Fine.”
Sungjun couldn’t say no because of the twelve million. He had to send Haejin to prison or find out if the painting in the hallway was really a fake.
Haejin smiled and approached the painting. Then, he lightly stroked the lion that was playing tricks in the chair.
“You must know that this ‘Lion Tamer’ was one of G?ring’s collections.”
During the Second World War, Hitler and the Nazi plundered all kinds of paintings, sculptures, craftworks and ornaments, about five million of them in total.
They created a special force called Elnsatzstab. It was commanded by Hermann G?ring, Hitler’s right- hand man, and focused on raiding antiques using tanks. Max Beckmann’s Lion Tamer was one of the paintings G?ring plundered or forfeited.
“Are we studying history now? Get to the point.”
Sungjun’s daughter urged with a cold face.
“I don’t like studying history, either, but we cannot talk about Max Beckmann without discussing history. However, I didn’t start talking about history to tell you about Bekmann. It was to talk about G?ring.”
“Be quiet. Go on.”
Sungjun calmed down his impatient daughter and reclined back in his sofa as if telling Haejin to take his time.
“When G?ring started to collect works of art, there was also a painting of Vermeer. Do you know of ‘Christ with the Adulteress’?”
Unlike his confused daughter, Sungjun was surprised. He then stood up.
“Meegeren! He was a fraud who sold fakes to G?ring but he was paid with fake money in return. Hmm… are you saying it was Meegeren who painted this?”
Han Van Meegeren was a Dutch artist who was famous for copying Johannes Vermeer (famous for the Girl with Pearl Earring)’s painting and selling it to G?ring.
At that time, Meegeren was scolded by the critics, so he spent four years preparing a forgery that would fool them.
Eventually, Abraham Bredius, the most well-known art historian and appraiser who dedicated his life studying Vermeer’s works declared that Meegeren’s ‘The Supper at Emmaus’ was a real Vermeer painting.
After that, Meegeren sold his fakes as Vermeer’s in order to make money. He sold one of them, ‘Christ and the Adultress’, to G?ring. After the War ended, he was put on trial for cooperating with the Nazi.
Meegeren revealed that the painting wasn’t real but a fake he made, he then turned from a traitor who worked for the Nazi to a hero who fooled G?ring.
“At that time, Meegeren found making his fakes look old the most difficult part. So, he started to forge paintings of artists of his own time. One of them was…”
“Max Beckmann?”
“Max Beckmann was very hated by the Nazi. He eventually ran to America. So, who could have appraised this as a fake? There were no scientific analyzing tools.”
“This painting was sold on a proper auction. What evidence do you have to prove that it was a fake?”
“The painting on auction was probably real. That is why I told you earlier there must have been a mistake during the process… anyway, the evidence is in the right corner at the bottom of this painting. The black part of the chair has Meegeren’s signature.”
Minsung quickly approached the painting. He stared at it for a long time and found something. He pointed at one spot of the painting and made a weird sound.
“Huh? Huh?”
He was surprised to see that it was there for real.
“Get out.”
Sungjun’s daughter hastily came and stared at the spot Minsung pointed at. Then, she saw a small alphabet ‘mee’ that was as tiny as a grain. She looked back at Haejin.
“Is that an alphabet?”
“Yes. It’s a sign that Meegeren left on his painting. The real painting doesn’t have it.”
“Then where is the real painting?”
“That, I don’t know.”
Actually, Haejin knew where it was.
Five years ago, he and his father went to Uffizi Gallery in Italy and got to speak to an old woman.
Surprisingly, she was very fluent in English. She liked Haejin’s father and invited them to her place.
Although Yunseok’s English wasn’t good, she could see that he knew a lot about antiques.
When Haejin and Yunseok went to her house, they found out that the old lady’s family was a noble family of Firenze with a long history. She had many paintings including the Lion Tamer.
She would never sell it, as it was worth a lot, so Haejin found it strange to see it here. However, he planned to ignore it as he couldn’t take a closer look.
However, Sungjun and his daughter mocked him and Byeongguk which made him angry. So, he used his magic.
This magic allowed him to see better as if he was using a magnifying glass or a telescope. Although it was only for a short moment, he found something on the painting that shouldn’t be there.
If it wasn’t for that, it would have been possible that the painting wasn’t real. He would then have been forced to let this go.
“You say that you don’t know but, judging from your look, I think you know where the real painting is.”
Maybe being in such a high position turned Sungjun into a seer. He seemed to be sure that Haejin knew.
Anyway, Haejin now cared about only one thing.
“May I give my account number to Director Lee here? I will leave thinking that you will give me that money. Well, there’s nothing I can do if you don’t but, I don’t think you will…”
Haejin added that to be sure. Sungjun then stopped him.
“Enough. The money will be in your account today.”
“Thank you. It has been a pleasant time.”
Haejin was feeling good just as if he had punched Sungjun’s arrogant face. You could probably see it from his face since his daughter was steaming with a red face. However, Sungjun was now calmy looking at Byeongguk.
“It has been interesting. And… you. I will buy that. For three billion.”
“Really? Oh, I’m sorry. This has never happened before… then, I will take it out again.”
Byeongguk lifted the box again, put it back on the table and opened it.
“He is your nephew?”
“Yes. Although he looks a little rude, he is quite nice. He also the best at his job.”
“Yes, as you say, he seems rude but good at his job.”
“Mr. Lim, do you have something for that rude but skilled young man?”
Byeongguk was quick-witted. Sungjun carefully stroked the celadon.
“I want him to help me…”