Ethically, there is a strict line drawn between the imitator and the forger, but in practice this line is by no means rigid. Many imitators place their goods before the public as imitations; others tacitly permit their work to be sold as genuinely antique, influenced no doubt by the fact that though possibly the imitation and the original may possess equal merit, the one is handicapped by modernity, the other is hallowed by age. The inexperienced and unwary collector is in most cases the innocent originator of fraud; if there were no buyer there would be no seller. Too often fashion leads folly, and so fictitious values are created, and as demand increases so, too, do the sources of supply, but unhappily they are frequently not legitimate.

RICCARDO NOBILI.

Ville Marie,
Via Dante da Castiglione 3,
Florence.

CONTENTS

PART I
THE BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF FAKING
CHAPTER PAGE
I.Greeks and Romans as Art Collectors[17]
II.Collectomania in Rome[24]
III.Rapacious Roman Collectors[36]
IV.Rome as an Art Emporium[44]
V.Increase of Faking in Rome[57]
VI.Decadence of Art and Consequent Changes[63]
VII.The Renaissance Period[68]
VIII.Imitation, Plagiarism, and Faking[83]
IX.Collectors of the Sixteenth Century[101]
X.Collecting in France and England[107]
XI.Mazarin as a Collector[114]
XII.Some Notable French Collectors[129]
PART II
THE COLLECTOR AND THE FAKER
XIII.Collectors and Collections[135]
XIV.The Collector’s Friends and Enemies[150]
XV.Imitators and Fakers[165]
XVI.The Artistic Qualities of Imitators[181]
XVII.Fakers, Forgers and the Law[194]
XVIII.The Faked Atmosphere and Public Sales[207]
PART III
THE FAKED ARTICLE
XIX.The Make-up of Faked Antiques[225]
XX.Faked Sculpture, Bas-reliefs and Bronzes[234]
XXI.Faked Pottery[246]
XXII.Metal Fakes[263]
XXIII.Wood Work and Musical Instruments[279]
XXIV.Velvets, Tapestries and Books[287]
XXV.Summing Up[301]
Index[311]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS