The trace would go back to Virgil, who would be accounted as incompetent, not recognizing their truth content ( either he would life with that public humiliation or tell the truth that Billy was part of those criminal happenings) and then maybe the picture would go back to the former owner, cause it was sold in wrong conditons.
shareWell, maybe he never intends to sell them. How about if Billy, the forger, painted copies which were sold at auction and Virgil kept the originals. Virgil could not go to the police since he was in possession of stolen paintings.
This movie reminds me of another movie. It was called "Incognito". Jason Patric plays a careful and skillful art forger who creates an unknown Rembrandt. Its then planted and "found." But Patric is double crossed by his partners in the crime. To defend himself later he tries to duplicate the painting in front of a jury and is unable. He had based the painting of an old man on his father who has died in the meantime.
The movie is not as good as this one but does show how art forgers can duplicate old paintings. Patric does have the satisfaction of seeing a painting of his late father hanging in a major museum visited by thousands of visitors,
A man who never had anything in life.
I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else
If you remember, it was Billy who bought the paintings, so legally they belong to him. When he gave them to Virgill later, that transaction would not have been supported with any documentary proof since Virgill would've wanted to make sure that there is no paper trail.
But it was stupid for Virgill to treat billy so poorly when billy had so much leverage
It would be interesting to know how Billy would explain to the tax people where the income came from to buy all those paintings.
I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else
No worries, the tax people don't care how you got the money to buy things. They just want their cut when you sell them.
shareNo worries, the tax people don't care how you got the money to buy things. They just want their cut when you sell them.
There is a black market for paintings. There are people who want paintings in their private collections that no one but them see (just like Virgil's special locked-up art room) & will still pay high prices for stolen art. It might take years to sell off a collection that large, but it could be done. But yeah, the trace would go back to Billy, not Virgil.
shareThe trace would go back to Virgil, who would be accounted as incompetent, not recognizing their truth content
For Billy the con was about revenge, not greed. Taking Virgil's secret stash would wound him to the core, and Billy knew this.
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