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Newsletter 498– 02 – 03 - 2010
In this issue:

1) FEATURED ARTIST
2) SPECIAL OFFER OF THE WEEK
3) SPECIAL OFFER FOR FEBRUARY
4) NEW AUCTION WEBSITE UNVEILED
5) EARLY GOSPEL OF MARK IS A FORGERY


Over 100 Signed/Numbered limited edition lithographs as low as $20! - Check out our Bargain Hunters pages. Bargain Hunters

Please check out our website at CJR Fine Arts for artists like Tarkay, Pino, Neiman, Ferjo, Fanch Ledan, Fairchild, Keeley, Schluss, Benfield, Maimon, Hessam, Treby, Kondakova, Mcknight, Shvaiko, Park and many, many more!


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1) PINO DAENI

Pino Daeni (known simply as Pino) was born in Milan Italy, 11/8/1939.

After establishing himself as a successful artist in his native land, Pino decided to emigrate to the United States, where he felt he would have more artistic freedom and opportunity. He was soon discovered by the distinguished Borghi Gallery, which gave several prestigious exhibitions for him in New York and Boston.

His early paintings caught the attention of both Dell & Zebra Book Publishers facilitating Pino designing hundreds of book covers for authors such as Danielle Steele & Amanda Ashley using a then unknown model named Fabio.

Pino's technique, warm colors and simple approach to his subject, are his trademark, and the reason why his painting & limited editions are in growing demand throughout the US, and appreciated by collectors throughout the world.


2) INCREDIBLE SPECIAL OFFER OF THE WEEK-PINO DAENI

Take 35% off our Already Low CJR Price on Limited Editions by artist Pino Daeni

Click Here to See these Beautiful Images


3) SPECIAL OFFER FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY

Free Original 11" x 14" hand drawn Pencil Portrait!

During the Month of February, Purchase any Original by artist David M. Gillespie and David will create an original 11" x 14" hand drawn pencil portrait of your loved one using your favorite photograph.

Click Here to See these David’s beautiful work


4) FEDERAL REPOSSESSION DEPOSITORY UNVEILS NEW AUCTION WEBSITE

The Federal Repossession Depository announces the launch of its new state of the art auction style website.
The new site will be located at this website address: www.repodepotauctions.com.


In an effort to clear out inventory of repossessed and currently overstocked inventories from various suppliers nationwide, www.repodepotauctions.com will offer auctions that will start at only one dollar. These items will be Fine Art, Sports Memorabilia, Jewelry Coins and a wide variety of other collectables as well as Automobiles and Boats.


In an effort to compete with other Police Auctions, Government Auctions, Seized Property Auctions and other Liquidation and Wholesale Auctions, they will run events approximately every month to six weeks.

During these harsh economic times more and more goods have been repossessed and company's inventories have been stockpiling. While at the same time consumers have become more aware that they don't have pay retail prices for durable goods. Wholesale and below wholesale prices are now available to everyone even if they are not very internet savvy. The internet has made shopping easy, fast and more convenient than ever before.

The first scheduled auction preview started on January 31, 2010, where no bidding will be allowed the first week. This will give consumers ample time to research any product they may be in the market to purchase. Then on February 7, 2010 the auction will go live and bidding will be allowed.

Click here to Register

5) EARLY COPY OF GOSPEL OF MARK IS A FORGERY
BY EMILY SHARPE

A clever bit of detective work by US scholars and scientists has proven that one of the jewels of the University of Chicago’s manuscript collection is, in fact, a skilled late 19th- or early 20th-century forgery.

Although speculation as to the authenticity of the Archaic Mark codex has been rife for more than 60 years, prior to this definitive research many believed it was an early record (possibly as early as the 14th century) of the Gospel of Mark and the closest of any extant manuscript to the world’s oldest Greek Bible—the fourth-century Codex Vaticanus.

The earliest record of Archaic Mark dates to 1917 when it was listed among the possessions of recently deceased Athenian antiquities dealer and collector John Askitopoulos. In September of 1935, Askitopoulos’s nephew, Gregory Vlastos, contacted University of Chicago biblical scholar Edgar Goodspeed asking if the school wished to purchase the manuscript. The 44-page codex, measuring 11.5 x 8.5cm, was acquired by the university in 1937 for an undisclosed sum.

The ongoing debate as to the codex’s authenticity re-ignited in 2006 with its digitisation, giving international experts an opportunity to examine the work closely for the first time. Beginning in 2007, Margaret Mitchell, Alice Schreyer and Judith Dartt from the university collaborated with research microscopist Joseph Barabe from the Illinois-based lab McCrone Associates, and manuscript conservator Abigail Quandt from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, to perform a cross-discipline, in-depth analysis of the codex.

Barabe conducted a material and elemental analysis on Archaic Mark which involved the use of a wide variety of techniques including x-ray diffraction, raman spectroscopy, polarised light, x-ray spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. He was particularly interested in determining whether the codex had undergone an earlier restoration which would account for the presence of various “modern” shades of blue including synthetic ultramarine blue—a material not available until the 1820s. He found no evidence of a prior restoration and most importantly determined that the white colour used contained the pigment lithopone which was not available until 1874, thereby setting an 1874 terminus post quem date for the codex. Carbon dating was used to determine that the canvas dates from the mid 16th century.

Quandt, who has worked on the Archimedes Palimpsest—a medieval manuscript that includes a group of modern Byzantine-style miniatures that were painted over sections of the original text sometime in the late 1930s—and various pieces by the so-called Spanish Forger, confirmed some of Barabe’s findings during her reconstruction of the forger’s technique. She noticed several inconsistencies with authentic Byzantine manuscripts including that the forger appears to have painted the miniatures and then added the text—an unusual practice for the medieval scribes. She also noted the amateurish binding and obvious attempt to add age to the edges of the manuscript with the sloppy application of a brownish liquid to create a faux charring effect.

Mitchell, a biblical scholar, undertook the task of analysing the text and found it to include the same errors contained in an edition of the Greek New Testament published by Philipp Buttmann in 1856. This led her to conclude that the creator of the Archaic Mark used Buttmann’s text as a guide for his forgery. “I’ve been asked repeatedly if I’m disappointed that the work is a forgery. I’m not. There is no longer a question mark after the date of the manuscript and that is tremendously satisfying,” said Mitchell.

The university intends to preserve the codex and encourage its use for further research into the forger’s techniques. “Those who study forgeries may be the largest beneficiaries of our scholarship,” said Mitchell.

A detailed record of the project is slated for publication in this month’s Novum Testamentum journal.


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Jack, Claire, Andy and Violet Rosen
561-333-9472
CJR Fine Arts