38 people across Europe are suspected of involvement in a sweeping scheme to create and sell fake works attributed to Banksy, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol, among other marquee 19th, 20th, and 21st century artists, Italian authorities revealed on Monday.
The investigation so far spans Italy, Spain, France and Belgium, with suspects under investigation for conspiracy to handle stolen goods, forgery and illegal sale of artworks. News of the investigation was jointly announced by the paramilitary Carabinieri art squad and the Pisa prosecutors’ office and first reported by Reuters.
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The chief prosecutor of Pisa, Teresa Angela Camelio, said in a statement that experts from the Banksy archive who assisted authorities hailed Monday’s operation as “the biggest act of protection of Banksy’s work”.
Italian police have so far uncovered forged works attributed to Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as the 20th century titans Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, Francis Bacon, and Piet Mondrian. Some 2,100 forgeries with an estimated market value of $215 million have been seized by police, and six forgery workshops raided across Europe, including two in Tuscany and one in Venice.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the investigation began in 2023, when 200 fake artworks, including a drawing purportedly made by Amedeo Modigliani, were seized from the collection of a businessman in Pisa, Italy.
The provenance, or history of ownership, of the forgeries, revealed their path through a string of auction houses in Italy, as well as their likely suppliers. Investigators added that the suspects had organized two Banksy exhibitions featuring the forgeries in Mestre, outside Venice, and Cortona in Tuscany to lend credence to their product.