DOI Artikel:
Miziołek, Jerzy: Introduction: Forgeries over the ages
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23901#0014
Jerzy Miziotek
sensational material for mass media and on the other they can provide real
lessons in humility for experts and connoisseurs alike. It is worth noting that
catalogues of the exhibitions organized in recent years in Britain, France,
Switzerland and Italy were sold out very quickly. Many forgeries are perfectly
executed and already have much of the nature of a work of art par excellence.
The problem, however, lies in the fact that they are so numerous and
therefore, they pose problems to be confronted not only by academics and
antique dealers but also museums and private collectors.
This book consisting of ten papers is the oucome of an international
conference which took place in Warsaw in May 1999s. It deals mostly with
forgeries of works of art found in Polish collections. However, some of the
articles concern objects housed in foreign collections which conform very
well with the scope of the book. In these introductory observations on the
subject, my intention has been to broach the problem presented by this
category of artefacts not only in Poland but in certain instances also abroad
and thus creating a kind of background for the material dealt with in this
volume. It is hoped that this publication will open up new perspectives and
make scholars and museum curators aware of the need to organize an
exhibition devoted to the forgeries to be found in Polish collections and the
various types of copies, which often pass as originals.
*
In his Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Giorgio
Vasari writes of a famous forgery, or rather an attempt at forgery, linked with
the name of one of the most famous artists of all times. Vasari writes thus
about a certain incident in the life of the young Michaelangelo: „There he
made for Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de'Medici a S. Giovannino of marble,
and then set himself to make from another piece of marble a Cupid that was
sleeping, of the size of life. This, when finished, was shown by means of
Baldassarre del Milanese to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco as a beautiful thing,
and he, having pronounced the same judgment, said to Michelangelo: 'If you
were to bury it under ground and then sent it to Rome treated in such
a manner as to make it look old, I am certain that it would pass for an
antique, and you would thus obtain much more for it than by selling it here."
It is said that Michelagnolo handled it in such a manner as to make it appear
an antique; nor is there any reason to marvel at that, seeing that he had
genius enough to do it, and ever more. Others maintain that Milanese took
it to Rome and buried it in a vineyard that he had there, and then sold it as
an antique to Cardinal San Giorgio for two hundred ducats. Others, again,
say that Milanese sold to the Cardinal one that Michelagnolo had made for
him, and that he wrote to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco that he should cause
thirty crowns to be given to Michelagnolo, saying that he had not received
more for the Cupid, and thus deceiving the Cardinal, Lorenzo di Pier
Francesco, and Michelagnolo"9. Later Vasari writes that when the Cardinal
learnt of the origins of the sculpture he gave it back to Milanese and of how
it subsequently ended up in Mantua. He concludes his tale with these
words: "This affair did not happen without some censure attaching to
Cardinal San Giorgio, in that he did not recognize the value of the work,
which consisted in its perfection; for modern works, if only they be excellent,
are as good as the ancient. What greater vanity is there than that of those who
concern themselves more with the name than the fact ? But of that kind of
10
sensational material for mass media and on the other they can provide real
lessons in humility for experts and connoisseurs alike. It is worth noting that
catalogues of the exhibitions organized in recent years in Britain, France,
Switzerland and Italy were sold out very quickly. Many forgeries are perfectly
executed and already have much of the nature of a work of art par excellence.
The problem, however, lies in the fact that they are so numerous and
therefore, they pose problems to be confronted not only by academics and
antique dealers but also museums and private collectors.
This book consisting of ten papers is the oucome of an international
conference which took place in Warsaw in May 1999s. It deals mostly with
forgeries of works of art found in Polish collections. However, some of the
articles concern objects housed in foreign collections which conform very
well with the scope of the book. In these introductory observations on the
subject, my intention has been to broach the problem presented by this
category of artefacts not only in Poland but in certain instances also abroad
and thus creating a kind of background for the material dealt with in this
volume. It is hoped that this publication will open up new perspectives and
make scholars and museum curators aware of the need to organize an
exhibition devoted to the forgeries to be found in Polish collections and the
various types of copies, which often pass as originals.
*
In his Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Giorgio
Vasari writes of a famous forgery, or rather an attempt at forgery, linked with
the name of one of the most famous artists of all times. Vasari writes thus
about a certain incident in the life of the young Michaelangelo: „There he
made for Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de'Medici a S. Giovannino of marble,
and then set himself to make from another piece of marble a Cupid that was
sleeping, of the size of life. This, when finished, was shown by means of
Baldassarre del Milanese to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco as a beautiful thing,
and he, having pronounced the same judgment, said to Michelangelo: 'If you
were to bury it under ground and then sent it to Rome treated in such
a manner as to make it look old, I am certain that it would pass for an
antique, and you would thus obtain much more for it than by selling it here."
It is said that Michelagnolo handled it in such a manner as to make it appear
an antique; nor is there any reason to marvel at that, seeing that he had
genius enough to do it, and ever more. Others maintain that Milanese took
it to Rome and buried it in a vineyard that he had there, and then sold it as
an antique to Cardinal San Giorgio for two hundred ducats. Others, again,
say that Milanese sold to the Cardinal one that Michelagnolo had made for
him, and that he wrote to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco that he should cause
thirty crowns to be given to Michelagnolo, saying that he had not received
more for the Cupid, and thus deceiving the Cardinal, Lorenzo di Pier
Francesco, and Michelagnolo"9. Later Vasari writes that when the Cardinal
learnt of the origins of the sculpture he gave it back to Milanese and of how
it subsequently ended up in Mantua. He concludes his tale with these
words: "This affair did not happen without some censure attaching to
Cardinal San Giorgio, in that he did not recognize the value of the work,
which consisted in its perfection; for modern works, if only they be excellent,
are as good as the ancient. What greater vanity is there than that of those who
concern themselves more with the name than the fact ? But of that kind of
10