- A. Boetti, Una parola al vento, due parole al vento, tre parole al vento, 100 parole al vento (A word to the wind, two words to the wind, three words to the wind, 100 words to the wind)

Date: 21st century; Forgery of Alighiero Boetti (Italian, Turin 1940–1994 Rome)

Medium: Embroidery

Dimensions: 96 x 26,6 cm (37.7 x 10.4 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This textile forgery is a replica of the distinct work of Alighiero Boetti, a prominent artist in Italian postmodernism. Boetti’s embroidered letter grids—vivid, meticulous, and conceptually rich—explore the intersection of order and chance, authorship and delegation, and the poetic fragmentation of language. The original version of this work, created in 1989, is held in the Fondazione Alighiero Boetti, and his art has been widely exhibited in various national and international venues. Boetti’s practice of outsourcing embroidery to artisan workshops—following detailed instructions—blurs the lines between creator and maker, raising questions about authenticity and authorship that forgers can cunningly exploit. The nature of his process invites imitation, making his art particularly vulnerable to convincing copies that can deceive even trained eyes. Subtle inconsistencies in stitching, color palette, and typographic rhythm ultimately betray the illegitimacy of the work itself. Boetti’s status as a widely collected and canonized postmodern artist makes his work a prime target for forgery—not only for potential financial gain, but also because it symbolically taps into the prestige and layered complexity of 20th-century Italian conceptualism.

- R. Natali, Urban Landscape

Date: 21st century; Forgery of Renato Natali (Italian, Livorno 1883–1979 Livorno)

Medium: Tempera on panel

Dimensions: 31.4 x 44.8 cm (12.3 x 17.6 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

Renato Natali was a Neapolitan painter whose work mainly consisted of oil paintings on wooden panels or canvas, with influences from the Macchiaioli artists, a group of painters active in Tuscany during the second half of the 19th-century and known for works closely resembling French impressionists. This counterfeit painting directly imitates the style of Natali, likely inspired by his works depicting his hometown Livorno and Rome. Specifically, the forgery resembles some of the artist’s paintings portraying evening urban landscapes immortalizing the contemporary city life populated by human figures in motion and horse-drawn carriages. The forger’s signature placed in the right lower corner of the painting shows discrepancies in comparison to Natali's official signature.

- G. de Chirico, Cavaliere con Berretto Rosso e Manto Azzurro (Cavalryman with a Red Hat and a Blue Cloak)

Date: 21st century; Forgery of Giorgio de Chirico (Italian [born Greece], Vólos 1888–1978 Rome)

Medium: Tempera on canvas

Dimensions: 39.9 x 33 cm (15.7 x 12.9 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This painting is a replica of Giorgio De Chirico’s Cavaliere con Berretto Rosso e Manto Azzurro (1939), currently housed at the GNAM (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea) in Rome. It depicts a man characterized by his red, floppy cap and flowing blue cape riding a horse poised in a dynamic stance. This genre painting reflects De Chirico’s interest in classicism and antiquity, and the ‘horse’ in particular was a subject that features in many of the artists’ paintings in the late 1920s and beyond. Painted in tempera, unlike the original oil painting, this forgery employs a thick impasto and a color palette that create depth in both the horse and rider and produce theatrical movement through the masterful use of light and shadow. The forger, however, struggled to replicate the artists’ original signature.

- G. de Chirico, Portrait of a Young Lady

Date: 21st century; Forgery of Giorgio de Chirico (Italian [born Greece], Vólos 1888–1978 Rome)

Medium: Tempera on canvas

Dimensions: 72.6 x 61.1 cm (28.5 x 24 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

The Portrait of a Young Lady is a genre painting. It depicts a young damsel sitting outdoor on a wooden stool and facing the audience. She wears a refined ochre colored satin dress and holds in her left hand a light-blue flower. This forgery is not an exact replica of one of De Chirico’s works but imitates the style that the artist embraces at the beginning of his ‘Romantic-classical period’ (1920s), as also indicated by the presence of a horse placed in the background. Iconographically recalling De Chirico’s La Gravida (1920) housed at Fondazione Giorgio De Chirico, this forgery of a seated young lady differs not only by depicting the female figure in an exterior setting but also by the technique used in the execution of the work, namely tempera on canvas, as opposed to De Chirico’s rendering of portraits indoors, mainly through the application of oil pigments onto a plastered fabric surface.

- Small Cup in the Shape of a Miniature Calyx Krater

Date: 21st century (forgery)

Medium: Pottery; Black-Figure (imitates)

Dimensions: H. 17 cm (6.6 in.); diameter 14.9 cm (5.8 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This modern vase attempts to replicate a miniature 6th-century BCE Black-Figure Greek cup in the shape of calyx krater, a type of vessel used in antiquity to mix wine and water. The forger also painted on the body of vase mythological scenes that frequently appear on authentic pottery. One side of the vessel depicts a male figure in the action of striking a bovine with a sword. This scene most likely portrays Theseus slaughtering the Minotaur, the bull-headed man trapped in the famous labyrinth in Crete. The other side depicts two dancing female figures, while two decorative lotus bulbs adorn either side of the vessel. The forger tried to mimic an upside-down lotus blossom, an ornamental motif that often appears on ancient Greek pottery to fill the empty spaces of the fields. The careless rendering of the various details, including human figures, natural and ornamental elements, as well as the poor craftsmanship of the vase, all indicate that this not an authentic piece.

- Askos (flask with a handle over the top)

Date: 21st century (forgery)

Medium: Pottery; Black-Figure (imitates)

Dimensions: H. 18.2 cm (7.2 in.); diameter 18.2 cm (7.2 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This form of ceramic vessel is called askos (plural askoi), meaning “wine skin,” because it resembles liquid containers made from animal skins or organs. Askoi were typically used for storing small quantity of liquids or unguents. This modern forgery of a Greek, Black-Figure, ring-shaped askos from the 6th century BCE has a doughnut-shaped body, a low, vertical spout with flaring rim, and a single basket handle that forms a low arch from the bottom of the neck to the top of the body on the opposite side. The decorative design mimics a banquet scene with reclining male and female figures. The forger attempted to simulate the appearance of an antique artifact by adding fake crusts of mineral deposit on the object.

- Corinthian Oinochoe (pitcher)

Date: 21st century (forgery)

Medium: Pottery

Dimensions: H. 30.2 cm (11.8 in.); diameter 17.5 cm (6.8 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This is a forgery of an ancient Corinthian oinochoe (pitcher), produced in the style from the ancient Greek city state of Corinth. It is an attempt to recreate the original late Proto-Corinthian style from around 650-625 BCE. This vessel tries to replicate the original Corinthian pottery, including: the trefoil mouth, a singular handle, the off-white color, and the particular design painted on the pitcher. The frieze around the neck and body of the jug depicts real and fantastic animals as well as floral elements in both black and red glaze, including lions, panthers, swans, boars, and mythical figures like sirens. This iconography is meant to imitate the repetitive bands of animal decoration typical of Corinthian art, which was influenced by the art of the ancient Near East. The pitcher can be identified as a forgery based on the poor forced aging of the surface painting as well as lack of quality craftmanship of the vessel.

- Small Vase in the Shape of a Miniature Amphora

Date: 21st century (forgery)

Medium: Pottery; Black-Figure (imitates)

Dimensions: H. 16.2 cm (6.3 in.); diameter 13.1 cm (5.1 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This vase is a recreation of an ancient Greek flask, often used to store liquids such as oils, somewhat resembling the shape of a miniature amphora. It is decorated in the 6th-century BCE Black-Figure pottery style, with iconographic depictions of various human and mythical figures. One side of the vessel depicts a male figure wearing winged sandals in the act of attacking a half human/half animal creature. Most likely, the forger was trying to reproduce the mythical episode of the hero Perseus beheading the Gorgon Medusa, who in ancient Archaic Greek art is often represented with a porcine face, bulging eyes, and large nose. Her wings and round curls are also typical of the Gorgon while she is missing the protruding tongue that often -but not always- characterizes her. A naked male, possibly a satyr, and a dressed female figure holding a plate populate the other side of the vessel. The poor quality of both craftsmanship and painting is evident. The decoration appears simply painted but not fired and the odd shape of the vessel is another indication of forgery.

- V. Canino, Rural Landscape

Date: 21st century; Forgery of Vincenzo Canino (Italian, Naples 1892–1978 Naples)

Medium: Tempera on panel

Dimensions: 34.6 x 44.90 cm (13.6 x 17.6 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This forgery, like most of Canino’s works, depicts a farmhouse in a village near Naples, the painter’s original hometown. It can be compared to one of Canino’s oil painting, Viale di Campagna, which also portrays the daily life of the Neapolitan countryside. This is a distinctive feature in Canino’s works, as he also focused on portraying the lives of the farmers and peasants of the Italian rural landscape. This forgery was effective at including many details and treating the medium similarly to the style of Canino, but it seems not have been produced in plein air —a technique, where artists paint outdoors to capture the atmosphere in natural light. The brushstrokes might be more controlled and probably took longer to make than the original plein air paintings by Canino, who worked with faster strokes to capture a fleeting moment in the day.

- V. Canino, Summer Landscape

Date: 21st century; Forgery of Vincenzo Canino (Italian, Naples 1892–1978 Naples)

Medium: Tempera on panel

Dimensions: 31.7 x 40.9 cm (12.4 x 16.1 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This painting imitates Canino’s style, a painter who is known for his atmospheric and suburban street settings. Most likely, it captures a summer rocky coastline near the Gulf of Naples featuring small tucked away coves enclosed by steep cliffs. The forger tries to render Canino’s picturesque style, with detail in the architectural elements and small figures seating under sun umbrellas. Canino mostly painted in plein air, warranting larger brushstrokes to capture life in motion. This piece fails in this regard, capturing a more rigid composition compared to Canino’s skillful brushstrokes, all suggesting a forgery. The perspective also appears slightly off as the road fades into the back, generally lacking Canino’s more natural and organic style. A subject of interest is the signature, which does not match the artist’s original. Comparing this to Leon Guiseppe Buono’s faux signature, it is a detail that can often indicate forgery.

- M. Schifano, Abstract Landscape

Date: 21st century; Forgery of Mario Schifano (Italian [born Libya], Khoms 1934–1998 Rome)

Medium: Enamel on canvas

Dimensions: 100 x 100 cm (39.3 x 39.3 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This forgery depicts an abstract landscape that combines many forms and colors including blue lines and large splashes of red, beige, green, and yellow paint. These motifs are a recurring theme in Mario Schifano’s paintings. Schifano enjoyed incorporating pop culture into his art and using non-conventional materials and methods such as collages and gestural abstraction. The use of vivid colors and abstract details is typical of many of Schifano’s works. The relatively simple style of the artist rooted in recognizable imaginary that creates a sense of familiarity and repetition makes it easier to replicate his works. The forger attempted to imitate the style of the artist but the incorrect signature at the back contributes to reveal the lack of authenticity of this painting.

- M. Schifano, Dinosaurs

Date: 21st century; Forgery of Mario Schifano (Italian [born Libya], Khoms 1934–1998 Rome)

Medium: Enamel on canvas

Dimensions: 97 x 117 cm (38.1 x 46 in.)

Credit Line: Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC)

This forgery attempts to depict an abstract prehistoric landscape populated by dinosaurs, a subject that often recurs in Mario Schifano’s works. Schifano was interested in consumerism, technology, and the human condition. For this is why he incorporated many natural elements and prehistoric subjects, like the sun and the two dinosaurs seen here, in order to express his interests in the impact of technology on the human condition. Here, most of the canvas is painted in bright yellow, so the forger may have been inspired by Schifano’s “Monochrome” series of paintings, which often features dinosaurs on a nearly single-color surface painted with thick layers of enamel on paper applied to the entire canvas.