Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 200: Bait to Catch the Big Fish (1)

The person who reacted most passionately to the word Vatican wasn’t Cavani or Haejin. It was Silvia.

She grabbed Haejin’s arm and whispered, “I’ve been keeping an eye on the Vatican, too. A number of artifacts with great mana have come out from there. However, I couldn’t get closer.”

Haejin thought it was serious. Maybe the Trinitatis was the organization that had stolen the artifacts the Nazi had stolen.

Then the Trinitatis was hiding in the Vatican…

“Your story really surprises me. Hmm…” Cavani didn’t say anything more.

Messing up with the Vatican was something hard to imagine, even to the Medici family that had a huge influence on the art world.

Additionally, the power it had in Italy wasn’t something the Medici could dare to compare with its own.

However, it was different for Haejin. Now that he had a chance to go after them, he couldn’t miss it.

“So, Archipenko’s painting really came out from the Vatican?” Haejin asked.

“Yes!”

Matias looked irritated, but Haejin didn’t even frown. He asked again, “Then what about this?”

“What?”

Haejin continued, “You said your brother painted Egon Schiele’s Sunflowers. Why don’t you make a fake yourself and offer it to the Vatican?”

Silence fell. Then Cavani looked at Haejn, clearly shocked, and asked, “Mr. Matias here is an art dealer. Are you saying he should make a fake? One of great quality like the Sunflowers?”

Haejin looked at Matias, who was still in a daze, and answered as if it was nothing.

“Once you start painting, that technique never goes away. It’s like riding a bike, you never forget it. And… if you were once a forger, I think you have been painting from time to time to keep your skills. Am I wrong?”

“Hmm… I’ve never stopped painting entirely, but I am not as good as my brother,” Matias confirmed. Cavani smiled at this, “Ha… well, I am getting surprised many times today. I thought you had never touched paint till a few minutes ago, and you are thinking of making a fake.”

“Let me tell you again. Benedict was a genius. I will never be as good as him,” Matias replied. Cavani turned to Haejin and asked, “Are you planning to send his fake to the Vatican?”

Haejin answered, “Yes. If we make a fake of one of the paintings that went missing at the time and spread rumors about it in the Vatican, they will surely react. They must be the ones who stole the paintings the Nazi had stolen.”

“Hmm… do you think Mr. Matias can make such a fake of great quality?” Cavani asked. Haejin thought he could and said, “We can give up if it’s not good enough. We should see what he can do first.”

Cavani nodded and spoke to Matias.

“I don’t want you to lose your business and become homeless on the streets. Just help me with this, and my family will become the closest friend of yours.”

“I will try if you promise not to scold me afterward for not being good enough,” Matias replied.

“Good. Please rest here today and start tomorrow. If you need anything, tell my servants.”

Matias was about to say something about being asked to stay there for the night, but then he gave up and left, following a servant.

As Silvia looked him leaving, she asked, “But you must have the real painting to make a fake of it. Which painting are you going to use? You are not thinking of Archipenko’s painting, right?”

Instead of answering that question, Haejin said to Cavani, “I thought the Medici family would have at least one painting the Nazi had stolen. If there isn’t, then we won’t be able to make that fake for a long time.”

Cavani smiled, called a servant, and gave him some orders. Then, he spoke with that aristocratic confidence, “I have a painting of Titian.”

“Ohh…” Haejin was genuinely impressed. Titian was the greatest artist in the history of Venetia who led the Italian Renaissance. His painting would be enough to draw their attention.

However, he had a question.

“Has Titian’s painting been stolen by the Nazi?”

Cavani confirmed, “Yes. At the time, they took a lot of gold from the Jews and took it to Portugal. The documents of America’s department of state also says that the amount of gold in Portugal soared up during World War 2.”

“Oh…”

It was another interesting story which Haejin had never heard before.

Cavani explained, “The gold they took to Portugal would be worth a billion dollars now, but what is interesting is that the artifacts Hermann G?ring collected were also moved to Portugal.”

“Oh… then they…”

Cavani continued, “Yes, they could not openly sell it and said they had bought it from a Nazi spy. What is even more interesting is that Titian’s painting was among the paintings that were put on Mauerbach charity auction but then vanished afterward. Shouldn’t it be enough to make them interested?”

Haejin brightened up. It couldn’t be better than this, and he replied, “Of course, of course. Even though the painting that was sold during the war and the paintings they smuggled away are different, it clearly had belonged to the Nazi. So, if we spread rumors about how it is one of the missing paintings, they will have to lunge in for it.”

The next day, Haejin, Silvia, Cavani and Matias had lunch in a pleasant mood as if nothing had happened yesterday. Then they went up to a small room on the first floor of the mansion.

There were paper, colors, and painting tools already waiting for Matias.

He rather calmly got ready and sat down.

“Although I did ask for it, I didn’t know you would get me everything in less than a day. The power of the Medici family is truly remarkable.”

The paper in front of him looked very old, even to the ignorant eyes.

Cavani smiled.

“My family has a number of old books. Of course, most of them have meaningful records and considerable value, but some are just old without any significant meaning. I just prepared the kind you wanted. Of course, my employees had to work all night to put the paper together.”

The first step of making a forgery is getting the paper that was used at the time.

As Titian worked from the late 15th century to the early 16th century, they had to get the paper of the time to at least start.

Although Cavani said the paper wasn’t that important, surviving for such a long time alone made it precious enough.

“Is that your faith in me?” Matias looked like he couldn’t understand.

If a less good forger worked with such precious paper, it would just be turned into some trash less valuable than toilet paper.

It wouldn’t have been easy to give it to Matias, without believing in his skills.

“Yes, and it is also faith on Mr. Park who trusts you.”

Cavani’s servant explained, “I have prepared all the colors you asked for: flake white, pure ultramarine, madder lake, burnt sienna, malachite, yellow ochre, red ochre, orpiment, and ivory black.”

Matias nodded with satisfaction, “Good. More than everything, getting to see Titian’s painting with my own eyes makes me think helping you isn’t all that bad, Mr. Cavani.”

As he said, what drew attention the most in that room was Titian’s painting in the middle.

Haejin also couldn’t help exclaiming, “So, that is the painting from Titian that you have.”

In the painting, there was a man wearing a strange coat with a tall dog.

As the man was wearing a luxurious coat that even most aristocrats couldn’t afford, he had to be Carl V.

“The records say my family paid quite a lot for it. Of course, as it is Titian’s, I would have paid at least that much myself,” Cavani replied. Haejin nervously asked Matias, who was sitting in front of the paper, “Do you think you can do this?”

“You made me do this because you thought I could, didn’t you? Then wait patiently.”

His reply was cold, but it satisfied Haejin. He could feel that Matias was confident enough.

Maybe he had felt jealous of his brother Benedict.

If he had, this was the opportunity to show his skills.

His gaze alone said he wasn’t about to hold a brush again simply because he couldn’t refuse.

“I’m sorry. Then please start.”

Matias started to imitate the painting.

To draw the Vatican’s attention, he didn’t make any rough sketch.

The painting had to turn out to be fake easily so that they would believe it was one of their own fakes which had been leaked.

Like his brother, he wore a one-eye magnifying glass and put a support bar in front of the paper to stop his hand from shaking and paint in details.

As such a painting couldn’t be done in a day or two, Cavani went back to Florence to take care of his family’s business. Haejin and Silvia, instead, stayed with Matias and watched him work.

They were not standing to guard him. Instead, watching his painting being created was a pleasant experience on its own.

Cavani came back to Austria four days after.

“Remarkable, truly remarkable. I didn’t know you were capable of this…”

When he returned, he kept exclaiming when seeing the painting.

“Although I used to paint from time to time, it’s been more than five years since I held a brush for the last time. I am surprised as well.”

Even Matias couldn’t believe it and dreamily stared at his own painting.

It was perfect, even to Haejin. Of course, the last procedure still remained, but it was as good as Benedict’s Sunflowers.

Actually, Haejin hadn’t expected Matias to be this good. He had thought a little lack of skills would not be a problem in dragging them to the Vatican, but to his surprise, he got a forgery of remarkable quality.

“Was it luck?” Silvia asked. However, Haejin shook his head, “No, mere luck cannot do this. In art, technique has its limits. The difference between a master and a skilled painter is as thin as paper. That slight difference is made by philosophy and mind, and Mr. Matias got it as he got older. Sometimes, you improve by not doing anything.”

“I see.”

Silvia was really impressed. Matias was proud of himself and was about to say something with a smile, but Cavani spoke first.

“When I was in Florence, I tried to find some records about the Vatican, and I found something very strange going on.”

“What is it? Cavani hesitated before speaking, “Um… when I followed the artifacts coming out of the Vatican, I traced them to Marco Veriano’s shipping company.”

“What? Who is Marco Veriano?”

Cavani didn’t answer that question. Instead, the shocked Matias did.

“Mafia… he is the most powerful mafia boss in Italy.”