An exhibition of works by Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, which opened in March at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, was closed earlier than scheduled amid claims that a significant portion of the works included were fake, The New York Times reports. The claims made by art collector and Modigliani aficionado Carlo Pepi prompted an investigation into the works on display after insisting one of the works visible on the exhibition’s website was a ‘shameless fake, created 20 years ago’. Italian prosecutors, who have taken up the case, have alleged that ‘21 of the 60 or so works on exhibit were possible fakes’ – the works have now been seized by the police. Curator of the show Rudy Chiappini is under investigation for fraud, and made a statement attesting to the proper documentation of the works displayed. Although he made the allegations of forgery, Pepi had not been to the exhibition: ‘I would never go to see such eyesores’.
21 July 2017
