Fraudster Heinrich Schaeffer constantly transgressed not just national but also the social and normative boundaries of his time. With fake news, art forgeries, and historical fabrications, he catered to the nineteenth-century elites' hunger for prestige in Germany, Italy, and France. Alexander Hilpert analyzes this transgressive biography and the strategies that have allowed some of Schaeffer's forgeries to even appear authentic today.

Alexander Hilpert, University of the Saarland, Saarbrücken, Germany.