In the wake of the commercial success of early Christian and Byzantine works of art, the late nineteenth century witnessed a significant increase in the circulation of copies and forgeries, while numerous newly made objects entered the art market. Archaeologists and art historians were consequently called upon to develop new skills for detecting fakes, both to ensure the reliability of scholarly research and to protect collectors from the risk of fraud. Among the most remarkable examples of “post-classical” forgery, the so-called Sacro Tesoro Rossi, or Rossi Treasury, deserves particular attention. This unusual assemblage of gold and silver objects, purchased in Rome between 1882 and 1884 by the Italian amateur collector Giancarlo Rossi, has generally been neglected in the secondary literature. Yet, in the final decade of the nineteenth century, questions surrounding its authenticity gave rise to a heated debate among scholars and collectors alike. Drawing on previously unpublished or little-known documentation, this article offers a new critical reconstruction of the history of the Rossi Treasury, with particular emphasis on its impact on scholarship between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Sulla scia del successo commerciale delle opere d’arte paleocristiana e bizantina, la fine dell'Ottocento assistette un significativo incremento nella circolazione di copie e falsi, mentre numerosi oggetti di nuova produzione facevano il loro ingresso sul mercato antiquario. Archeologi e storici dell’arte furono quindi chiamati a sviluppare nuove competenze per l’individuazione dei falsi, sia per garantire l’affidabilità della ricerca scientifica, sia per proteggere i collezionisti dal rischio di frodi. Tra gli esempi più significativi di falsificazione “postclassica”, il cosiddetto Sacro Tesoro Rossi merita particolare attenzione. Questo insolito insieme di oggetti in oro e argento, acquistato a Roma tra il 1882 e il 1884 dal collezionista dilettante Giancarlo Rossi, è stato generalmente trascurato dalla letteratura specialistica. Eppure, nell’ultimo decennio del XIX secolo, le questioni relative alla sua autenticità diedero origine a un acceso dibattito fra studiosi e collezionisti. Sulla base di documentazione inedita o poco nota, questo contributo propone una nuova ricostruzione critica della storia del Tesoro Rossi, con particolare attenzione al suo impatto sugli studi tra Ottocento e Novecento.
Falsi d’arte ‘postclassica’ nella Roma di fine Ottocento: lo strano caso del Sacro Tesoro Rossi
Gasbarri, G.
2014
Abstract
In the wake of the commercial success of early Christian and Byzantine works of art, the late nineteenth century witnessed a significant increase in the circulation of copies and forgeries, while numerous newly made objects entered the art market. Archaeologists and art historians were consequently called upon to develop new skills for detecting fakes, both to ensure the reliability of scholarly research and to protect collectors from the risk of fraud. Among the most remarkable examples of “post-classical” forgery, the so-called Sacro Tesoro Rossi, or Rossi Treasury, deserves particular attention. This unusual assemblage of gold and silver objects, purchased in Rome between 1882 and 1884 by the Italian amateur collector Giancarlo Rossi, has generally been neglected in the secondary literature. Yet, in the final decade of the nineteenth century, questions surrounding its authenticity gave rise to a heated debate among scholars and collectors alike. Drawing on previously unpublished or little-known documentation, this article offers a new critical reconstruction of the history of the Rossi Treasury, with particular emphasis on its impact on scholarship between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
