Italian police have seized over 2,100 counterfeit artworks and recognized 38 folks linked to a world artwork forgery scheme in a 22-month investigation beginning in Pisa. The seized fakes, marketed as works by Banksy, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Pablo Picasso, amongst others, may have offered for over €200 million (~$212.5 million) if they’d remained available on the market with out interference.
Per a press launch from the Carabinieri, Italy’s important regulation enforcement company, the investigation started in March of 2023, when its Command for the Safety of Cultural Heritage seized some 200 items of counterfeit modern artwork from a Pisan entrepreneur, together with a caryatid drawing falsely attributed to Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. Accordingly, police named the investigation “Operation Cariatide.”
The preliminary seizure led to the fixed monitoring of varied Italian public sale home web sites to trace comparable works on the market that might have been cast or lot entries that might result in the counterfeit suppliers.
A Carabinieri officer stands with the counterfeit Amedeo Modigliani drawing seized in Pisa that helped launch the investigation.
Investigators found that numerous public sale homes throughout the nation had been promoting counterfeit works falsely attributed to Joan Miró, Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky, Gustav Klimt, Cy Twombly, Marc Chagall, Claude Monet, Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee, Vincent van Gogh, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock, Keith Haring, Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, and British avenue artist Banksy — with these final two artists being probably the most replicated of all.
A report from the Italian Ministry of Tradition signifies that the investigation uncovered three forgery workshops located in portray laboratories within the areas of Tuscany and Veneto, in addition to a large community of scheme members throughout Spain, Belgium, and France who liaised with Italian public sale homes to facilitate the sale of counterfeit works at eyebrow-raising costs.
“In particular, three works by artists Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Piet Mondrian, whose works are usually sold at international auctions for tens of millions of euros, had been auctioned off at a Pisan auction house for the sum of approximately €4,000 [~$4,249] each,” reads a press release from the Ministry of Tradition’s report.
Only a handful of the counterfeit Banksy artworks seized through the investigation
Three further fabrication websites had been found throughout Europe, as had been a whole lot of falsified certificates and stamps of authenticity. The Carabinieri and the general public prosecutor’s workplace in Pisa attest that Warhol and Banksy, as fixtures of the Pop and avenue artwork actions, had probably the most counterfeited items — and that among the cast works might need ended up in well-established establishments.
The Museo M9 Mestre in Venice got here beneath fireplace final March for together with what turned out to be two pretend artworks in its Banksy: Portray Partitions exhibition organized in collaboration with the Italian cultural occasions group MetaMorfosi. The works had been withdrawn from the present and brought for investigation by the Carabinieri after Banksy knowledgeable Stefano Antonelli filed a authorized grievance in opposition to the museum alleging that they had been “low-quality fakes.”
Neither the Carabinieri nor the general public prosecutor’s workplace of Pisa instantly responded to Hyperallergic‘s inquiries. The people recognized have but to be formally charged or sentenced because the investigation continues.
A collection of counterfeit artworks emulating the kinds of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, amongst others