Maximilien-Théodore Chrétin : the inventive forger

Born in Paris in 1797, Maximilien-Théodore Chrétin was a student of the painter Guérin and the engraver Simon Pradier. First a sailor, then a paper maker, he was a drawing teacher at the College of Auch. A canal was discovered in Nérac in the Garenne park in 1832. Excavations, subsidized by the State, were then organized and the remains of a Gallo-Roman villa and numerous mosaics were unearthed. It was only natural that the city councilor of Nérac, Mr. Lespiault, entrusted the supervision of the excavation site to his local expert, Maximilien-Théodore Chrétin. The artist exhumed a dozen inscriptions and medallions dealing with the Roman emperor Tetricus, his wife (until now unknown) and his son. Except that, in 1834, the Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres declared these inscriptions to be false...

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