Umberto Giunti (The counterfeiter in plaster, 1886 - 1970)

Umberto Giunti

Umberto Giunti was an Italian painter and forger known as Il Falsario in calcinaccio or, according to other sources, Il Falsario del calcinaccio. This nickname was given to him by the art historian Federico Zeri, who was the first to recognize the artist's work, but could not establish his first and last name. The art historian Gianni Mazzoni identified the artist as Umberto Giunti. Giunti taught arts and crafts at the Art Institute of Siena and designed the costumes for the Contrada della Lupa between 1928 and 1955. A year before his death, in 1945, he wrote a letter in which he described how he created and aged his works so that they looked like they belonged to the Middle Ages. The paintings were painted with great skill, many ended up in prestigious museums or in the collections of the most authoritative critics of the time. The work of Umberto Giunti "Madonna del Velo" was exhibited for a long time as an original in the famous Courtauld Gallery in London.