Modiglianis thought to be worth millions ‘are clever fakes’
Italian art experts confirm all but one of the works attributed to the artist are actually reproductions
A DAZZLING collection of Modigliani paintings that went on display in Italy, and which was believed to be worth tens of millions of pounds, has been declared to be fake.
The works displayed at the Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, which included reclining nudes in the Italian artist’s inimitable style, may now be destroyed.
Experts warned that the collection was just “the tip of the iceberg” and that Modigliani, whose paintings fetch huge sums, was one of the most copied artists in the world. Of all the so-called Modigliani paintings, genuine pieces could make up as few as 25 per cent, according to one estimate.
The paintings declared fake went on display last spring amid great fanfare and were seen by tens of thousands of visitors.
Carlo Pepi, an art expert from Tuscany, soon raised doubts about their authenticity and the exhibition was eventually closed in July, with the paintings handed over to investigators.
After months of study, art historians have now declared all the paintings to be clever reproductions apart from one. The alleged fakes included a portrait of Jean Cocteau, the artist and writer, a seated nude, a reclining nude and a seated woman.
“Finally it’s come out into the open,” said Mr Pepi, who believes most of the fakes were painted in the Eighties. “The situation is grotesque – it sometimes seems that he painted more when he was dead than when he was alive. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Isabella Quattrocchi, a consultant brought in to study the paintings, said they were “blatantly fake”.
The frames around the paintings were from Eastern Europe and the United States and “have nothing to do, either in context or historical period, with Modigliani”, she said.
Three people are now under investigation in connection with the alleged fakes, including Rudy Chiappini, the curator of the art exhibition, and Joseph Guttmann, a Hungarian art dealer who owns 11 of the works.
A spokesman from the Tate Modern, which is hosting its own Modigliani exhibition until April, said the gallery had no concerns about 100 works that are currently on show in London.
There is no suggestion that any of the works in this exhibition are fake. The spokesman said the Tate had carried out routine checks “as we often do for other artists’ works, especially when an exhibition is being prepared”.