In the art world, being able to determine the fakes from the genuine works is of course of paramount importance. After all, an original Andy Warhol could be worth Millions of pounds, whereas a fake would be worthless. It’s not something you want to make a mistake with.

It appears however, that someone may have done just that. A painting presumed to be an original Warhol, entitled ‘315 Johns’, which was authenticated by the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board and then sold to an un-named buyer may not be a Warhol at all.

The painting is of the artist John Chamberlain, and was sold by him the year 2000 for more than $3 million. Now, some eight years later, one of Warhol’s former assistants claims that he in fact painted the work, not Andy Warhol himself.

Warhol’s former assistant, Gerard Malanga, is currently in court in Brooklyn, claiming that Chamberlain shouldn’t have sold the work because it was not his to sell, and that it’s not a Warhol original. Furthermore, Malanga disputes that Warhol didn’t even know the work existed!

Malanga claims he painted the work with two of his friends, a year after he left Warhol’s tutorship as homage to the great Pop Art master. Malanga claims that Chamberlain bragged to him about how much he’d sold the work for when he met him:

You know that painting you made of me? I sold it for $5 million.

The trial continues with Chamberlain denying any knowledge of the work being fake, and insists that Warhol personally gave him the painting as part of an art swap between the two.