At the exhibition in France arrested the painting, attributed to Bronzino
ARTinvestment.RU   22 января 2020

Experts believe that it may be associated with the activities of the dealer Giuliano Ruffini and passed through his hands dozens of forgeries of old masters

This event — recent in a long chain of scandals, discoveries and incidents, beginning in 2016, when in the catalogs of auction houses began to float good fakes of old masters.

it is Known that the picture seized by the French customs and participated in a closed this past Monday exhibition the Parisian Museum Jacquemart-Андре, came to France from the American collection of works of Italian art of The Alana Collection.

Representatives of the French authorities said that after the exhibition the export of this work would be prohibited.

the reason for the arrest was the relationship of this work with the infamous French art-дилером Julian Ruffini, accused of selling forged works by old masters. The investigation considers that the production and selling of counterfeits were involved son Julian Mathieu and the Italian artist Lino Frongia. All defendants in the case are currently under arrest. During his activities, according to the investigation, Ruffino and his accomplices managed to sell forged old masters, for approximately $220 million, including "Portrait of the unknown" supposedly painted by Frans Hals sold at Sotheby's for $10, 75 million (by the way, the damage from the sale of paintings, the auction house will reimburse still), "SV. Jerome" allegedly the work of Parmigianino, sold for $842,5 thousand, and other work. The total number of counterfeits is estimated at two dozen, but this figure is not final.

it is Known that the work of "St. Cosmas" in 2011 was bought by the Chilean billionaire Alvaro Siecom and his wife Ana Guzman, founders and owners of The Alana Collection. Couple collects Italian art from 1990-х years and owns a large number of works by Italian old masters.

the exhibition at the Museum Jacquemart-Андре were exhibited two works by Bronzino from their collection — "St. Cosmas" and "Portrait of Cosimo de 'Medici". According to the representative of The Alana Collection, cited by The Art Newspaper, "both paintings were bought by the English art market, dealers, who we trust and who provided a detailed provenance of the work." The Museum declined to comment on the question of whether or not the investigation of any-либо other works from this collection.

the Painting of "St. Cosmas" was first presented to the public in 2010 at a retrospective exhibition of Bronzino at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Expert on Florentine painting and curator of the exhibition Costamagna told investigators that he personally confirmed the authenticity of the work and argued that its inclusion in the exhibition. In its decision about the authorship of the work, he relied on what he saw in the painting pentimento — visible changes to the composition of the painting, indicating that during its writing the concept of the artist changed several times. While Costamagna recognizes the fact that there is a certain amount of fake work, created based on the original drawings or sketches of the artists.

the Material was prepared by Maria Kuznetsova AI

Source: artnews.com

something to read on the topic on AI:
the scandal at the old masters market;
Another picture of the old master wasforgery;
In the case of fake old masters began to be arrested;
a British court ordered the investors to Fund trading fake Franz Hals, to return the money to the auction house