Our Billion-Worth Twins by Velvet Antler novel Chapter 925

Chapter 925

Catelyn did not care about being the object of ridicule, but when they joked about her father, she could not hold back her temper.

Her expression suddenly changed from calm to aggressive, and she said in a strong voice, "Tens of millions of dollars for a fake oil painting as a gift for Grandma? Is this a joke? I destroyed it so it won't embarrass her when you all found out it was fake! Shouldn't I be thanked?"

"A fake oil painting?" Tracy’s heart sank when she heard that.

Truth be told, she did not buy this painting at a Swiss auction house but at an underground trading house outside the auction house instead. The seller swore that it was an authentic artwork and gave her a receipt that looked indifferent from one from a regular auction house.

Afterward, she rushed back to America to take care of Eugene, so she did not have time to verify that painting.

'But how could Catelyn know at a glance that it was a fake? She must be bluffing.' The lady who defended Tracy sneered again and said, "Miss Atherton, you seem to know oil painting, but didn't you major in architecture?"

"Miss Atherton, I know that what Tracy said has offended you, but don't take it to heart. I'll make amends on her behalf, but this painting was bid through a regular auction, and it has been certified by art experts."

Sammy did not want to cause trouble, but when she heard Catelyn call Tracy's name, she immediately became anxious.

Spending around ten million dollars on a fake oil painting was humiliating. Some might think that they could not tell the difference and were hence fooled, but others might think that they deliberately wanted to fool Granny Atherton with a fake painting.

That was a slander that Tracy and Sammy would not want to bear.

Sammy's concession made the rumor that Catelyn had been bullying them seem even truthful. Those ladies who secretly disliked Catelyn because of her sudden gain of social status and wealth as Miss Atherton were enraged.

Catelyn was not provoked by that, and she even explained calmly, 'Fake paintings in the market generally use printing technology, but that isn't the case with this painting. It's a fake hand-painted copy, so it bears over ninety percent similarity to the real one. That increases a certain degree of difficulty in identification-"

’Since it is difficult, how can you be sure that this is a fake?"

"Because the nineteenth century wasn't as developed as today's commodities, to preserve oil paintings for a long time, oil painters would apply a layer of varnish after the pigments are completely dry. Different painters generally use different methods. I had the honor of seeing Morison's other masterpieces up close before. For other oil paintings of his, the varnish he used was specially made by him. The smell of rosin in those paintings was unique and lasting, but the smell in this is impure as it is mixed with a very light paint smell. Hence, it's likely that this is a forged painting by a painter with good mimicking skill."

People who did not know oil painting was confused. They found it suspicious that it was able to determine the authenticity of a painting by the smell of varnish which had been there for over a hundred years.

For a while, they did not know who to trust.

However, Tracy's face turned pale.

Obviously, she, too, knew about the method of using varnish on oil painting for identification, but she did not want to believe that the one she had was a fake copy.