Fakes found in Lucca

Four men have been arrested and charged by police in Lucca for selling forged copies of famous paintings by illustrious artists such as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Giorgio de Chirico, Renato Gattuso, Felice Carena and many others. Among the works confiscated are two fake bronze statutes alleged to be original works by Picasso and Giacometti. The prices paid for the phonies ranged from 1,000 euros to tens of thousands of euros. The culprits actively sought out individuals new to the international art market, as they would be easier to deceive. Police say the techniques used to render the copies as convincing as possible was quite sophisticated, one in which the image of the original was projected onto a canvas and then traced with a paint brush, while paying extremely close atten-tion to detail. The fakes were also accompanied by falsified documents of authenticity. Perhaps even more shocking is the fact that, of the four men accused, at least two are prominent public figures in Tuscany. The four accused are Ricardo Omar Ciancilla, president of the Sangiovannese soccer club; the same club’s ex-sports director, Marco Antignano; Silvio De Turris, a 61-year-old painter from Milan; and Giuseppe Amarante, who lives in Novara.