12/02/2001

The decrease in prices over the last years for works by Mario Schifano is partly explained by the number of fakes which have been flooding the market. Giancarlo Bellesini an art faker from Rome and pupil of Schifano (Italian, born 1933 - died 1998 Rome), imitated his master’s work and passed them on to gallery owner, Anna Maria Governatori Marieni di Arcinazzo Romano, a dealer already charged with selling fakes in 1991. Mrs. Marieni met Mario Schifano by chance and soon became friends, with Marieni on occasion providing accommodation for the artist. She then acknowledged herself the right to guarantee the authenticity of any of the painter's signatures, with the gallery owner paying Bellesini $ 75-340 (€ 77-361) per fake and selling them on for $ 9,000-12,000 (€ 10,300-12,900), thus contributing to the drop in prices for this post-informalist painter. Denounced by the Schifano Foundation and by an unnamed important collector who was hoodwinked by the scam, thousands of faked works including drawings, paintings and prints have already been seized, together with 6,400 signed certificates of authenticity. (Dorian Cara)