Christian Goller

Christian Goller (18 January 1943 – 13 November 2017) was a German painter and trained art restorer who was under investigation by German authorities regarding a number of paintings attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder. Goller participated in art restoration courses at the Stuttgart Art Academy. He also restored church altarpieces.

In 1974 a work by Goller was sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art for $1 million. The painting was on a panel that contained a crack, woodworm holes and evidence of repairs, all of which it appears had been added to give the painting an antique appearance. Because the painting had passed through the hands of several intermediaries before being sold to the museum, Goller was not prosecuted. He claimed that he had sold the painting under his own name and that the attribution had been the work of one of the intermediate owners. Hofbauer says that a portrait of the emperor Charles V, described and attributed by Christie's Amsterdam saleroom as "Circle of Lucas Cranach II (Wittenberg 1515-1586 Weimar) Portrait of Charles V oil on panel, transferred onto canvas laid down on panel 54.9 x 49.5 cm.", was in fact painted by Goller; the painting was withdrawn from the 25 November 2014 sale. Accompanying the painting was a copy of a certificate by , a German art historian who had apparently examined the painting in the 1950s in Munich. In addition, Hofbauer says he has in his possession correspondence from of Basel, an expert in the paintings of the Cranachs, stating that Goller had produced forgeries though he did not know the specific paintings.

The District Court of Passau and the Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation began an investigation into Goller's activities.