At the time, he had begun enjoying considerable success – a phenomenon which the writer Tudor Arghezi attributed to the momentary rise of Take Ionescu as a politician (Ionescu had become the center of a fashion and subject of imitation, and he was among the first to buy more than one of Luchian's paintings). As his disease became notorious, a rumor spread that Luchian allowed someone else to paint in his name; the scandal brought about Luchian's arrest under charges of fraud (he was released soon after). Arghezi took pride in being one of his few defenders.