The Gentle Art of Faking: A history of the methods of producing imitations & spurious works of art from the earliest times up to the present day

In Short

Riccardo Nobili delivers a broad historical survey tracing the production of counterfeit art and antiquities from classical antiquity through the early twentieth century. He examines the psychology of acquisitive collectors, the treacherous dynamics of art markets, and the exact material techniques used by forgers to mimic age and mastery. Spanning ancient Roman greed, Renaissance reinvention, and modern auction room traps, the work endures as a sharp, unvarnished look at the persistent impulse to fabricate beauty for financial gain or professional vanity.

The Story

The narrative follows the evolution of artistic forgery alongside the rise of art collecting. Beginning in classical Rome, Nobili outlines a society consumed by an obsession with acquiring rare treasures. Satirists and historians record how rapacious collectors like Verres and ostentatious figures like Tongilius drove a market where status was tied to the possession of precious bronzes, crystals, and rare murrhine vessels. This obsessive demand naturally bred widespread deception, as craftsmen learned to satisfy the appetites of wealthy patrons through clever imitations.

Moving past the medieval period, the account explores the Renaissance, when the rediscovery of classical art created a new appetite for antiquities. Here, the boundary between legitimate imitation and outright deception blurred. Respected artists and sculptors produced small bronzes, medals, and bas-reliefs in the antique style. Works were given fantastic historical provenances—a "shampoo of history"—to appeal to collectors like the Medicis. The impulse to emulate ancient masters gradually transformed into a sophisticated trade in spurious works, aided by skilled restorers who repaired or embellished genuine artifacts until their original characters were lost.

By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, political upheavals, financial speculation, and the dispersal of aristocratic collections transformed the art trade into a commercial battleground. Nobili describes how figures like Voltaire engaged in the curio trade through partners, while modern auctions became hazardous territory filled with collusion and inflated prices. Fakers adapted to a growing class of newly enriched buyers, expanding their operations from paintings and marble to encompass an astonishing array of crafts.

The final phase of the survey exposes the practical mechanics of the trade. Fakers manipulate chemistry and materials to produce convincing distress: they apply chemical oxidation and green lacquer to bronzes, dye marble with alcohol-based solutions, artificially age wood carvings with alkali, and simulate the cracking of varnish on newly painted canvases. Through high-profile scandals—such as forged Biblical leather manuscripts offered for fortune, scaling terracotta busts mistaken for Renaissance originals, and deceptive metalwork—the author shows how even seasoned museum curators and prominent experts succumb to well-executed deceptions. The progression demonstrates that so long as human vanity and financial reward drive the desire for rare art, the craft of faking will continuously adapt its methods to defeat the scrutinizing eye.

How It Unfolds

The Roman obsession Driven by status and possessive mania, wealthy Roman collectors gather statues, murrhine vessels, and rare crystals. Their unyielding demand creates a lucrative environment for deceptive copies and inflated claims.

Renaissance reinvention Scholars and artists revive classical aesthetics, crafting small bronzes and bas-reliefs that ape antiquity. Master sculptors and workshops routinely alter or embellish objects to satisfy the era's grandest patrons.

Market expansion Financial shifts and aristocratic sales across Europe turn collecting into an aggressive commercial enterprise. Dealers, go-betweens, and opportunistic partners exploit newly enriched buyers through deceptive restorations and manufactured provenances.

The practical alchemy Forgers employ sophisticated chemical and physical tricks to simulate age across various media. They stain marble, artificially rust iron, apply color veils to gilded wood, and induce artificial cracking on fresh oil paintings.

The persistent illusion Even top experts and major international museums fall prey to forged terracottas, manipulated manuscripts, and composite furniture. The cycle completes itself as greed and professional conceit repeatedly override cautious judgment.

The People

• Verres: A notoriously rapacious Roman art collector whose aggressive, unscrupulous acquisition of treasures exemplifies the extreme greed that drives the antiquities market.
• Niccolo Niccoli: An eccentric Florentine humanist who spends lavishly on rare objects, dresses habitually in pink, and uses his sharp tongue to defeat artistic rivals while assembling an influential collection.
• The Medicis: A dominant Florentine dynasty whose passionate, multi-generational patronage enriches Renaissance art while simultaneously fueling an insatiable demand for ancient models and masterworks.
• Voltaire: The famed philosopher who quietly acts as a sleeping partner to a curio dealer, demonstrating how even intellectual figures engage in the profitable, deceptive world of art speculation.
• Zampini: A skilled modern craftsman who uses traditional Impruneta clay to imitate della Robbia style work, whose deceptive terracotta bust is ultimately unmasked when the material unexpectedly begins to scale and peel.

In Its Own Voice

“At night,” says Juvenal, “a cohort of guardians sits up with buckets of water ready to hand in case of emergencies; the poor man is in continual fear for his statues, his amber figures, his ivory and tortoise-shell veneered furniture.”

This passage highlights the paranoid obsession that plagued wealthy Roman collectors driven by the fear of losing their prized possessions.

“All amateurs,” writes a contemporary in the Chronique Scandaleuse, “are now mixed up with brocantage (bric-à-brac). There is not a collector who does not sell or exchange (troque), either on account of unstable taste, or for the sake of gain, or to retaliate his own bad bargain upon some one greener than himself.”

This observation captures the shift in the art world where collecting transformed into a commercial game of unloading bad purchases onto inexperienced buyers.

What It's Really About

Beneath its historical overview and technical explanations, the work argues that forgery is not merely a crime of isolated criminals, but a shadow industry created by the collective psychology of the art world itself. The desire to own something rare, historical, or exquisite frequently blinds the buyer to reality. Forgers simply exploit the vanity, competitiveness, and self-deception of collectors who desperately want an object to be authentic. By detailing how greed distorts judgment across every era, the text demonstrates that the market for spurious art relies just as much on the willingness of the victim to be duped as it does on the technical cleverness of the fabricator.

Why Read It Today

This work remains a fascinating, highly practical guide for anyone interested in the history of taste, collecting, and the darker side of art history. Nobili writes with clear, direct authority, bringing a dry wit to his descriptions of foolish collectors and scheming dealers. Reading it feels like receiving an insider's tour of historical workshops and backroom auction houses, stripped of romantic nostalgia.

The primary difficulty for modern readers lies in its dense historical references, frequent untranslated Latin and French phrases, and detailed lists of long-forgotten collections or classical figures. However, what stays with you is the humbling realization of how easily expertise can be subverted. The technical sections—explaining how fakers use chemicals, alcohol, and artificial aging to deceive the eye—serve as a timeless reminder that caution and humility are a collector's only real defense against beautiful lies.

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