The essay consists of two sections which, although they can be read independently, are nevertheless strictly functional to one another. The first proposes a wide and well-reasoned typology – rich in unpublished material – of Renaissance-style fake sculptures, suggesting an investigation into the poverty of invention of the counterfeiter rather than his technical inexperience as the main way to reveal the forgery: taken into consideration, therefore, are the servile copies of ancient originals, made of the same material, but also and especially those of different materials, the more or less varied replicas, and the plastic or carved translations of models taken from paintings. The second part investigates the recurring tendency of modern studies to dismiss as false original sculptures that the “unmasker” cannot understand. The phenomenon is dealt with through some cases that the author considers particularly exemplary, such as the two reliefs with the profiles of Saint Helen the Empress, by Desiderio da Settignano in the Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio) and by Mino da Fiesole in the Musée Calvet in Avignon respectively, as well as the “Flora” of Berlin, an already famous wax bust of the Leonardo school in the Bode-Museum, which was the subject of violent “querelles” shortly after its public acquisition in 1909, and was then banished from the bibliography to an embarrassed but undeserved oblivion.
Il saggio si compone di due parti che, pur potendo leggersi ciascuna in piena autonomia, sono nondimeno montate per essere strettamente funzionali l’una all’altra. La prima propone un’ampia e ragionata tipologia – ricca di materiali inediti – dei falsi scultorei in stile rinascimentale, indicando come via maestra allo svelamento della contraffazione l’indagine sulla povertà d’invenzione del falsario piuttosto che sulla sua imperizia tecnica: si considerano dunque, via via, le copie servili di originali antichi nella stessa materia e soprattutto in materie diverse, le repliche più o meno pesantemente variate, e le traduzioni plastiche o intagliate di modelli prelevati dalla pittura. La seconda parte indaga sulla ricorrente tendenza degli studi moderni a scartare come false quelle sculture originali che lo “smascheratore” di turno non riesce a comprendere. Il fenomeno è affrontato attraverso alcuni casi che l’autore ritiene particolarmente esemplari, come i due rilievi con i profili di sant’Elena imperatrice, opere rispettivamente di Desiderio da Settignano nel Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio) e di Mino da Fiesole nel Musée Calvet ad Avignone, e come la “Flora” di Berlino, un busto in cera già celebre di scuola leonardesca nel Bode-Museum, che fu oggetto di violente “querelles” poco dopo la sua acquisizione pubblica nel 1909, ed è stato poi abbandonato dalla bibliografia a un oblio imbarazzato ma immeritato.
«Falsi» veri e «falsi» falsi nella scultura italiana del Rinascimento
Caglioti
2017
Abstract
The essay consists of two sections which, although they can be read independently, are nevertheless strictly functional to one another. The first proposes a wide and well-reasoned typology – rich in unpublished material – of Renaissance-style fake sculptures, suggesting an investigation into the poverty of invention of the counterfeiter rather than his technical inexperience as the main way to reveal the forgery: taken into consideration, therefore, are the servile copies of ancient originals, made of the same material, but also and especially those of different materials, the more or less varied replicas, and the plastic or carved translations of models taken from paintings. The second part investigates the recurring tendency of modern studies to dismiss as false original sculptures that the “unmasker” cannot understand. The phenomenon is dealt with through some cases that the author considers particularly exemplary, such as the two reliefs with the profiles of Saint Helen the Empress, by Desiderio da Settignano in the Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio) and by Mino da Fiesole in the Musée Calvet in Avignon respectively, as well as the “Flora” of Berlin, an already famous wax bust of the Leonardo school in the Bode-Museum, which was the subject of violent “querelles” shortly after its public acquisition in 1909, and was then banished from the bibliography to an embarrassed but undeserved oblivion.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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CAGLIOTI_Falsi_Fondazione Zeri def.pdf
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2013_Seminario_Falsi.pdf
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