Tour de Babel, ou Objets d'art faux pris pour vrai et vice versa

Paris / Florence: Pedrone Lauiel / A. Bettini, 1868. First edition. Original printed wrappers, xi, 118 pp., 1 leaf, rebacked, hinge splitting minor wear to covers. An important source on the work of the master-forger and sculptor Giovanni Bastianini (1830-1868). His terra cotta bust of the poet Benivieni was sold by a collector to the Louvre at a large price, as a renaissance original, then exposed by the sculptor as his own work, to disbelief from the Louvre;s directors. Bastianini's death prevented his accomplishment of the challenge to execute an exact copy, although it was later accepted to be the work of the forger, and removed from exhibition. Foresi was a strong supporter of Bastianini, as an artist in his own right. He would be justified when in 1896 the South Kensington Museum bought Bastianini's bust of Savonarola as a legitimate work. Here he writes emotionally about Bastianini's poor treatment at the hand of the dealer Fretta, who commissioned his fakes. (See Briefel, Deceivers, 2006).