Art forgery is a new idea

From the New York Review of Books: “It is often said that art forgery has existed as long as the demand for works of art, but this is not strictly true. There is no clear evidence that art forgeries existed in the ancient world. There were plenty of collectors, but they seem to have found copies just as desirable as originals. … The notion of art forgery … seems to require the idea that originals possess certain qualities not found even in the best copies. It also requires … an expert with the ability to distinguish between the two.”.