Giulano Ruffini (born 1945) is a French

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

who has discovered a number of paintings that have been authenticated as being by

old masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

but some of which are suspected to be forgeries.cached
/ref> Investigation started in 2014. Painter Lino Frongia is suspected as author. Aude Buresi issued two arrest warrants in 2019 calling for the extradition of Frongia and Ruffini from Italy to France, but in 2020 Italian appeals court dismissed all nine of Buresi’s accusations against Frongia. In 2021 Ruffini was under an investigation by Italian fiscal authorities about 2013 - 2017 taxes. In 2022 Ruffini and his son Mathieu Ruffini were justified in Italy on charges of tax evasion.

Works

Ruffini said that he was lucky enough to find paintings that could have been done by Jan or Pieter Brueghel, Van Dyck, Correggio, Bronzino, Parmigianino, Solario, Van Bassen, Grimmer, Coorte and others. Among involved paintings: *

Orazio Gentileschi Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (; 1563 – 7 February 1639) was an Italian painter. Born in Tuscany, he began his career in Rome, painting in a Mannerist style, much of his work consisting of painting the figures within the decorative schemes of other ...

. "David Contemplating the Head of Goliath" * Portrait of Cardinal Borgia after Velazquez *

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...

(school of). "Head of Christ" *

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

. "San Francesco" *

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

. "Portrait of a Gentleman" (Sotheby's, 2011) *

Cranach Cranach is a German-language surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Augustin Cranach (1554–1595), German painter *Hans Cranach (c. 1513–1537), German painter *Lucas Cranach the Elder (c. 1472–1553), German artist *Lucas Cranach th ...

. "Venus with a Veil" (Prince of Liechtenstein's collection) *

Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, ...

. "Saint Jerome". (Sotheby’s, 2012) *

Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...

. "Saint Cosmos"

References

Living people French art collectors French people of Italian descent Art forgers 1945 births {{France-bio-stub

Works

See also

References