Hello--
        A few problems here: taking off the signature would not stop an
unscrupulous person from adding it on in the future, or just present it as
an unsigned work. If you go to Florence and stand in front of the wretched
copy of Ghiberti's 15th-century Gates of Paradise, made in the late 20th
century by the lowest bidder, you will be entertained/outraged by the
number of ignorant tour guides (all professionally certified by the
Italian state) who present it as the real thing.
        Your painting may have some interest as an historical object, or
as an example of the works of the faker. By removing the signature you are
destroying what could be valuable historical and even legal evidence. If
it took an expert to judge this as a fake, you must have a reasonably
convincing forgery of the target artist's style.
        I say put this information on the painting somewhere so that it
shows up under infrared light. If the target artist is of some fame,
publish the fake.  Either way, set it up so that any reasonably diligent
purchaser or evaluator will find the truth.

                Adrienne DeAngelis
                Resources in Art History for Graduate Students
                (http://www.efn.org/~acd/resources.html)
                [log in to unmask]

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