Brother Seppä is known as Finland’s most prolific art counterfeiter.
After finishing his career in counterfeiting, Veli Seppä has started painting his own art under his own name. Juha Veli Jokinen
Lempääläinen Brother Blacksmith a lot has been paid for the paintings. The largest amount is a whopping 2.2 million euros. After the middlemen, however, Seppä got only a few hundred. Why? Because he had forged the painting, which, however, was bought as genuine. The Finnish collector thought he was getting genuine Fernand Légerin.
He tells about this and other similar cases Aleksi Nuotion short documentary. Master or criminal? has been presented for the first time as part of the Friday debate program.
Described as Finland’s most prolific and skillful art counterfeiter, Seppä lists a long list of artists forged in the documentary: Reidar Särestöniemi, Yrjö Saarinen, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Pekka Halonen, Vilho Lampi, Veikko Vionoja…
– There is no way to elevate these, but this is an unfortunate fact, Brother says in the documentary.
According to Iltalehti, the police found out that Brother Sepä had forged at least 140 valuable works. Yle
It all started as early as 1986. When the official arrived at the door years later – while Särestöniemi’s painting, which had just been forged by Sepä, was still wet in the rack, Seppä saw only one way out of the situation at that moment.
– I really thought I was going to swing my neck, I wasn’t going to the castle, Brother recalls his suicide intentions.
However, he did not carry out his plan and served his judgment. Police found that Sepka had forged at least 140 valuable works. As a result of the recognition and prosecution, Seppä was sentenced to 1 year and 11 months in prison and paid EUR 40,000 in criminal proceeds. Crimes more than 10 years old are obsolete.
At the end of last year, Iltalehti reported how Seppä himself had found himself in a dubious situation. A painting was painted in his name on the Tori.fi website, which he had by no means painted.
– I myself have done wrong by falsifying the works of well-known artists, but I have tried to reconcile my actions by assisting the police in identifying the falsifications. It is not right for someone to sign in my name paintings made in a foreign paint shop. If more wolves enter the market, I guess you have to report the crime here, Seppä told Iltalehti at the time.
Master or criminal? today on TV1 at 9.30 pm & in the Arena. See all TV programs and broadcast times in Telku’s TV guide.