The Torrigiani Affair

Denise M. Budd; Lynn Catterson

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Chapter 3 The Torrigiani Affair

In: Italy for Sale

Authors:

Denise M. Budd

Denise M. Budd
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Lynn Catterson

Lynn Catterson
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 73–166

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004680449_005

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Abstract

The third essay of this volume addresses the probably all-too-common circumstances in which several copies or versions of a work exist that all purport to be authentic—raising the question of which, if any, is indeed the original, “authentic” version. Denise Budd and Lynn Catterson unpack the micro-saga of the sale of objects from Palazzo Torrigiani over the course of more than twenty years, from the 1870s through the 1890s, involving major dealers, agents, and collectors. The dealer Stefano Bardini featured prominently in these various and often protracted negotiations, not least because Palazzo Torrigiani was located less than twenty meters from his own gallery showrooms. Drawing upon copious amounts of archival material, a narrative emerges which incisively gets beneath the opacity of the transactions; likewise, it reveals the frequent participation of the Florentine copyist Luigi Bardi, for whom receipts and letters document his execution of copies for Bardini. The narrative is placed in confrontation with the various contemporary guidebook descriptions of the collection, some by writers evidently close with the Torrigiani family. What emerges clearly are the issues of attribution and authenticity played out via copies of masterworks in general, purported connoisseurship, and the disconcertingly potent authority of the published text from both contemporary and long foregone guidebooks. In a reverse direction tactic deployed by the dealers, objects were newly concocted according to printed descriptions, as well as marketed as sufficiently important so as to be destined for scholarly publication, thereby enhancing authenticity.

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Italy for Sale

Alternative Objects - Alternative Markets

Series: Studies in the History of Collecting & Art Markets, Volume: 19

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004680449

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Aug 2023

Subjects
- Art History
  - Art History
  - Art Market
- History
  - Early Modern History

Front Matter

Part 1 Possession by Replica

Part 2 Possession via Various Afterlives

Part 3 Art and Its Removal

Part 4 Italy for America

Back Matter

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Chapter 3 The Torrigiani Affair

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Italy for Sale

Alternative Objects - Alternative Markets

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