Alceo Dossena (1878–1937) was an Italian
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
. His dealers marketed his creations as originals by other sculptors.
Biography
Dossena was born in 1878 in
Cremona
Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...
, Italy. He was a talented stonemason and sculptor, and was so skilled at duplicating classical and medieval art, that his agent, Alfredo Fasoli sold his works as authentic antiques. Fasoli commissioned copies of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
,
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
, and
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
sculptures, and of works by such artists as
Giovanni Pisano
Giovanni Pisano (c. 1250 – c. 1315) was an Italian sculptor, painter and architect, who worked in the cities of Pisa, Siena and Pistoia. He is best known for his sculpture which shows the influence of both the French Gothic and the Ancient Rom ...
,
Simone Martini
Simone Martini ( – 1344) was an Italian painter born in Siena.
He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style.
It is thought that Martini was a pupil ...
, and
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Republic of Florence, Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sculpture and use ...
. Dossena was meagerly paid by Fasoli who made immense profit off of the copies he sold to museums and collectors. One of the fakes was a sculpted tomb attributed to
Mino da Fiesole
Mino da Fiesole (c. 1429 – July 11, 1484), also known as Mino di Giovanni, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Poppi, Tuscany. He is noted for his portrait busts.
Career
Mino's work was influenced by his master Desiderio da Settignano and ...
that was sold to the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
.
In 1928 Dossena discovered that some of his works were displayed in museum collections as original antiques, and that his dealers were keeping most of the profit for themselves. The artist was only paid the equivalent of $200 per sale. He exposed the ruse and sued his dealers. Dossena defended himself against
forgery
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
charges by claiming that he had been unaware that others were selling his work under false claims. A trial cleared him and he received the equivalent of $66,000 in compensation.
His subsequent exhibit in the
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 F ...
was unsuccessful. In 1933, the Italian government auctioned 39 of his works for the modest sum of $9000, when a forgery of his sold at a peak price of $150,000.
Alceo Dossena died a poor man in Rome in 1937.
Collections
Two of Dossena's sculptures are on permanent display in the
Frick Fine Arts Building
The Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building is a landmark Renaissance villa and a contributing property to the Schenley Farms-Oakland Civic Historic District on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Th ...
at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
. They were intended to appear as if they had been mounted on a Renaissance church, carved by
Simone Martini
Simone Martini ( – 1344) was an Italian painter born in Siena.
He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style.
It is thought that Martini was a pupil ...
. The subject matter is the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
and
angel Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
.
Further reading
* David Sox, ''Unmasking the forger: The Dossena Deception'', London: Unwyn Hyman, 1987.
*
Frank Arnau
Frank Arnau (March 9, 1894 – February 11, 1976) was the pseudonym of a German crime fiction writer, born as Heinrich Schmitt.
Biography
Arnau was born in Vienna, the son of a hotel manager.
He began his literary career as a newspaper journ ...
, in 1959, published what is still one of the best books about counterfeiting art: "Kunst der Fälscher - Fälscher der Kunst. 3000 Jahre Betrug mit Antiquitäten." It is available in an English translation by J. Maxwell Brownjohn as "
The Art of the Faker - 3,000 Years of Deception
''The Art of the Faker'' is an influential 1959 book on art forgery by Frank Arnau.
Editions and translations
*1959 ''Kunst der Fälscher - Fälscher der Kunst. 3000 Jahre Betrug mit Antiquitäten.'' (Original German edition)
*1960 ''L'Art des fau ...
" and includes a chapter on Alceo Dossena.
* W. Lusetti, ''Alceo Dossena scultore'', Roma, 1955
* Marco Horak, ''A Piacenza bassorilievo del grande Alceo Dossena, uno dei più enigmatici e controversy protagonist del mondo dell'arte'', in "Strenna Piacentina 2013", Piacenza, 2013.
* G. Cellini, ''Alceo Dossena'' in "Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani", Roma, 1992, vol. 41.
*
Terry Deary
William Terence Deary (born 3 January 1946) is a British children's author of over 200 books, selling over 25 million copies in over 40 languages, best known as the writer of the ''Horrible Histories'' series. Since 1994 he has been one of Britai ...
, ''Terry Deary's Terribly True Crime Stories'', 1994.
* Marco Horak, ''Alceo Dossena fra mito e realtà: vita e opera di un genio'', Piacenza, 2016,
External links
*
1878 births
1937 deaths
Art forgers
Artists from Cremona
20th-century Italian sculptors
20th-century Italian male artists
Italian male sculptors
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