Giovanni Bastianini

Giovanni Bastianini (September 17 1830 - June 29 1868) was an Italian sculptor who began his career as a stonecutter in the quarries at Fiesole, and was sent by Francesco Inghirami to study in Florence, first with Pio Fedi and then with Girolamo Torrini, with whom he collaborated on a statue of Donatello for the portico of the Uffizi.

Bastianini admired Renaissance sculpture, which became his main inspiration. From 1848 to 1866 he was under contract to an antique dealer, Giovanni Freppa, who supplied him with casts and models as well as a stipend in exchange for which Bastianini produced numerous neo-Renaissance works, especially busts and bas-reliefs in the style of Donatello, Verrocchio, Mino de Fiesole and other Italian Old Masters, most of which were sold as genuine to such noted museums as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Louvre.

None of the pieces were suspected as being inauthentic, and the deception was eventually revealed by a jealous dealer.

ee also

* Art forgery

External links

* cite web
title = Bastianini, Giovanni
work = Artists' Biographies
publisher = Artnet
url = http://www.artnet.com/library/00/0068/T006804.asp
accessdate = 2007-07-25
* cite web
title = FORGERIES, A LONG HISTORY
publisher = Museum Security
url = http://www.museum-security.org/forgeries.htm
accessdate = 2007-07-25
*cite web
title = Notes on Imitation and Forgery
url=http://www.umich.edu/~engtt516/forgery.html
accessdate = 2007-07-25
* Citation
last=Glueck
first=Grace
title=They Are Inauthentic, Yes, but Beautiful
newspaper=New York Times
year=2007
date=May 18 2007
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/arts/18forg.html?ex=1337140800&en=17d24295afc3fb5d&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink