Meet Dave Henty…Britain’s Best Blag-Artist Turned Art Star
- By Danni Levy
He’s done time, duped top art experts, and now he’s inspiring stage plays. Oh yes, we are indeed impressed. Gents… meet Britain’s most charming art forger.
Back in the ’90s, David Henty got banged up for forging passports. Bored behind bars, he picked up a paintbrush in an art class and found a knack for knocking out pitch-perfect copies of the world’s most famous masterpieces. Fast forward a few decades, and he’s gone from flogging cheeky fakes on eBay to selling legit recreations for thousands, and all while helping inspire one of Britain’s biggest crime authors, Peter James.
Henty’s dodgy past has become the stuff of fiction, with Picture You Dead, a thriller based on his life, now doing the rounds on a nationwide stage tour. And playing a version of Dave on stage is Coronation Street star Peter Ash, who’s totally nailed the mischief and swagger of the real deal.
Loaded sat down with the former forger to talk criminal tricks, smelly old canvases, and what it’s like seeing your life turned into a full-blown crime franchise…
You’ve described getting nicked as “the best thing that ever happened” to you. Can you take us back to that time and explain why prison turned out to be the turning point in your life?
Going to prison for forging passports changed my direction in life. I joined the art class while inside and fell in love with painting – I finally had time to hone my skills – and I have never looked back.
It’s mad to think the Telegraph outed you twice for flogging fakes on eBay. How close did you come to walking away from art for good at that point?
I never came close to giving up on art, I just had to reframe how I went about selling. It was just a bit of luck that a client from Ireland had read the article in the Telegraph and commissioned me to paint a couple of paintings. With the publicity from the Telegraph I held a solo exhibition which was a sell out! I’m now in quite a few galleries across the country and selling from my website. (All legit!)
Your copies have fooled some of the best eyes in the business. What’s the key to creating a painting so convincing that even top experts struggle to spot the difference?
Research, research, research. I try to see the original if I can and get up close to see the artist’s brush strokes and any nuances that they may have. You're looking for every artist’s idiosyncrasies – these are the things experts will be looking for too. Every artist has got little tricks or little shortcuts that they use, so if you copy those details well, you’ve copied their style. To be an art copyist, you've got to be an art historian. You've really got to do your legwork and your homework. I travelled to Rome to look at Caravaggio’s work - I study them in person so I can start doing their style of paintings. It takes a while but it’s important to get it right. The aim of the forger is that you want your picture to sit amongst those paintings if they were on a gallery wall, without sticking out like a sore thumb.
You’ve painted everything from Picasso to Banksy. Is there one artist you found particularly tricky to replicate – or one you’ve got a soft spot for?
I find female artists tricky to get. As a forger, I like to get into the mindset of the artist and I can’t seem to tap into women artists’ psyche. I have a soft spot for artists with a back story. Two of my favourites are Caravaggio and Modigliani. Caravaggio was the bad boy of art in the 1600’s and Modigliani had a tragic life story fuelled with drink, drugs and women.
Your mate Lenny the Bag and his chainsmoking helped you create that perfect aged smell on your canvases. Are there any other unusual ‘forger’s tricks’ that you can share with us?
It’s all about context, most of the time. If you provide a convincing backstory, and the artwork looks the part, then a lot of the deception is done for you within the context. Baking a painting in the oven is one of the aging effects, on a very low heat and for a long time helps the paint dry nicely (although it makes the kitchen stink and obviously you can’t do it with larger painting – for larger paintings I put them next to my log burner for a month or two). It means the paint dries with a nice patina to it – the right sort of sheen - because it’s done with a low and slow heat and you get like a soot effect that dulls the paint down, naturally. That’s all I’ll share with you right now!
You’re now a legit ‘copyist’, making thousands from recreating iconic works. How do you feel about the art world finally accepting what you do as a form of high-skill craftsmanship rather than crime?
I don’t think they do accept me - do they?! Forgery has been around forever and will still be around when I’m long gone. It would be ironic if one day someone starts copying my works (I would turn in my grave 🤣)
Crime author Peter James met you a decade ago and ended up writing Picture You Dead based on your story. What was it like seeing your world reimagined as a fictional thriller?
It’s flattering to be written about and Peter James is such a great guy. He does his research when writing and we had long chats about all aspects of forgery. He wanted to know all the details so he could get it right – just like I do! Picture You Dead is a great story. The stage play, which is currently touring around the country, is the only way to see it now as it hasn’t been done for the telly yet!
Actor Peter Ash is playing a version of you – 'David Hegarty' – in the stage adaptation of Picture You Dead. What’s it like seeing someone else step into your shoes and bring your story to life on stage?
It is very surreal seeing someone play me. I love it, though; his character is a real cheeky chappy and he has captured my sense of mischief, fun and passion for life. I don’t take myself too seriously.
You and Peter Ash seem to have great chemistry – any behind-the-scenes stories from your time together on tour that gave you a laugh?
I did notice the first time I met with the cast that Peter Ash was copying my mannerisms (how I folded my arms, for example) which I found quite funny. I was nicknaming him ‘Dave’ by the end of the day, he’s a good laugh.
With the stage version of Picture You Dead touring the UK and GRACE still pulling huge TV audiences, how surreal is it to know your former life of crime has inspired one of Britain’s most successful crime franchises?
True crimes are always the most interesting in books, TV and film! Picture You Dead is the seventh of Peter’s stories to be adapted for the stage which proves how popular they are but Peter James has said Picture You Dead is the best one yet. It’s incredible. I’m honoured to count Peter James amongst my friends.
Is it true you’ve used teabags, cigarette smoke, and even boot polish to fake the perfect patina? What’s the weirdest thing you've ever used to “age” a painting?
Dust from the hoover, French polish, I’ve tried many things!
Copying is not just about the brushwork, is it? How important is it to nail the back of the canvas, the frame – even the label – to complete the illusion?
That is almost as important as the front of the canvas. A dealer will always look at the back of the painting. Painting on a board or canvas of the period, using labels from galleries or framers that have long gone and frames from auctions, car boot sales and charity shops all give an authenticity to a work – make sure they are from the correct era, though.
You’ve got a trained eye for detail – what are the dead giveaways in a bad copy that would make you say, “No chance, mate”?
The wrong colour palette is a dead giveaway, every artist has his unique colour palette – Lowry for instance only used a limited palette of five colours. Modigliani only used earth colours. No point doing a Lowry, say, with emerald greens, it would be a tell-tale sign!
If someone wanted to dabble in the dark art of forgery (purely hypothetically, of course), what’s the first thing they should absolutely not do?
Get caught! Or phone me!
Credit: Picture You Dead is on UK tour until 26 July. For tickets, see peterjames.com