Real vs. Fake Art

Learn how to spot fake art in Animal Crossing: New Horizons! This guide details the differences between real and counterfeit paintings and sculptures from Crazy Redd.

This page offers information on how to spot Crazy Redd’s fake art. Not all artworks have a counterfeit version, so if it isn’t listed below, then you can safely assume that you’re buying the authentic art piece.

Paintings

Academic Painting

This painting is inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. The fake is easily recognizable as there are significant coffee stains in the top right of the painting.

The real Academic Painting looks exactly like the DaVinci piece (left), and the fake has suspicious stains in the corner. (right)

Amazing Painting

This painting is inspired by Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. The fake version is a little hard to spot, but the man with the red sash has no hat in the counterfeit.

The real Amazing Painting bears a striking resemblance to Rembrandt’s piece (left), whereas the man in the fake is missing a hat. (right)

Basic Painting

The Basic Painting is inspired by Thomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy. In the counterfeit piece, the boy has full bangs, whereas in the original he only has a little hair covering his forehead.

In the real painting, the boy has wispy bangs (left), but in the fake he has thicker, fuller bangs. (right)

Detailed Painting

The Detailed Painting is based on Rooster and Hen with Hydrangeas by Itō Jakuchū. The counterfeit is easy to spot as the hydrangeas will be purple instead of blue.

The hydrangeas on the authentic painting are blue (left), and they’re purple on the fake. (right)

Famous Painting

The Famous Painting is inspired by Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. In the counterfeit, Mona Lisa has sharp, angular eyebrows.

The real Mona Lisa has no eyebrows (left), but the fake Mona Lisa has sharp brows. (right)

Graceful Painting

The Graceful Painting is inspired by Beauty Looking Back by Hishikawa Moronobu. The counterfeit piece is recognisable because the woman is larger and takes up more of the painting than the woman in the authentic piece.

The real painting shows a smaller lady (left), whilst the fake lady is bigger! (right)

Jolly Painting

The Jolly Painting is inspired by Guiseppe Arcimboldo’s Summmer. The counterfeit version is quite a good one as the only difference is a missing artichoke bud on the person’s chest.

The real Jolly Painting has an artichoke bud on the person’s chest (left), whilst the fake has no bud. (right)

Moving Painting

The Moving Painting is based on The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. The fake is recognizable by its lack of trees in the background of the painting.

The real Moving Painting has trees (left), whilst the counterfeit does not. (right)

Quaint Painting

The Quaint Painting is based on The Milk Maid by Johannes Vermeer. The counterfeit piece is distinguishable by giant glug of milk coming from the maid’s jug. The authentic painting only has a small drip of milk coming out of the jug.

Notice the small stream of milk in the real painting (left), versus the counterfeit’s wide glug of milk. (right)

Scary Painting

The Scary Painting is based on Ōtani Onji the 3rd as Yakko Edobei BY Toshusai Sharaku. The fake is recognizable because of the upturned, sad eyebrows, whilst the authentic painting shows a man with angry eyebrows.

The eyebrows in the authentic painting are downturned (left), whilst the counterfeit’s eyebrows are upturned. (right)

Serene Painting

The Serene Painting is inspired by Da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine. In the fake version, the ermine (ferret) is grey, whilst in the authentic piece, it is white.

The ferret is white in the real painting (left), but it is grey in the fake version. (right)

Solemn Painting

This painting is based on Las Meninas by Diego Velaquez. In the fake painting, the small man in the painting in the background has his arm raised higher than in the authentic version. This is a tricky one to spot, so using these pictures as a comparison to a version in your game is advised.

Observe the man in the painting in the back ground, his arm is at a 90 degree angle (left), whilst the man’s arm in the fake is at a 45 degree angle and is higher up. (right)

Wistful Painting

This painting is inspired by Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. In the counterfeit, the earring is star-shaped and not a pearl earring. There is also another fake where the woman’s eyes are closed.

The earring is a pearl earring in the authentic version (left), whilst in the fake, the earring is star-shaped. (right)

Sculptures

Ancient Statue

The Ancient Statue is based on the Jomon period “Dogu” sculpture. The fake