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Lot 160

[JONI (ICILIO FEDERICO)]
Portrait of Dante

23 May 2012, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £750 inc. premium

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[JONI (ICILIO FEDERICO)]

Portrait of Dante, forgery of a fifteenth century portrait showing Dante, as is traditional, holding a book with the opening words of the Divine Comedy, in the style of Joni's forgergies of the 'tavole della biccherna', on a panelled binding with gilt gesso scrolling borders, 4 bosses on each cover, leather spine with quite convincing tagetes, some wear, interior fitted with blank paper and modern textile, the portrait 255 x 155mm., the boards c.440 x 345mm., [Siena, c.1920-1930]

Footnotes

Joni, the Sienese painter, restorer and self-professed forger of wooden panel bindings, was in prison in the 1920s, and he tells us he "read a bit and got hold of a pamphlet entitled Dante in Siena by Professor Aquarone" (Affairs of a Painter, 1936, p.277, translated from Le Memorie di un pittore di Quadri Antichi, 1932).

Additional information

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