Etruscan terracotta warriors

The three Etruscan terracotta warriors are art forgeries, statues made to resemble work of ancient Etruscans. The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art bought them between 1915 and 1921. The statues were created by Italian brothers Pio and Alfonso Ricardi and three of their six sons.

Early fakes

The Ricardis began their career as art forgers when Roman art dealer Domenico Fuschini hired them to forge shards of ancient ceramics and eventually whole jars.

Their first sizeable work was a large bronze chariot. In 1908 Fuschini informed the British Museum that the chariot had been found in the old Etruscan fort near Orvieto and that the Ricardis had been commissioned to clean it. The British Museum bought the chariot and published the find in 1912. Soon after the purchase Pio Ricardi died.

Warriors

The Ricardis enlisted the aid of sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti and created a statue, Old Warrior. It was 202 cm tall and was naked from the waist down. It was also missing its left thumb and right arm. In 1915 they sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art that also bought their next work, the Colossal Head in 1916. Experts decided it must have been part of a 7-metre statue.

The next work was a huge statue, the Big Warrior, designed by Pio's eldest son Ricardo who died in a riding accident before it was completed. The forgers first created a huge statue that was over two meters tall, and then glazed and colored it. The sculpture was then pushed over, breaking it into pieces. The statue was then rebuilt using the broken fragments. In 1918 the Metropolitan Museum of Art bought it for $40,000 and published the find in 1921. The forgers subsequently dispersed.

Discovery of forgery

The three warrior statues were first exhibited together in 1933. In the following years various art historians, especially in Italy, presented their suspicions that the statues might be forgeries, but there was no proof to support this allegation. Finally, in 1960, a series of chemical tests indicated that the black glaze contained manganese, an ingredient that Etruscans had never used. The museum was still not convinced until Etruscan experts realized that the statues had been built from pieces, instead of being fired as a single object, as Etruscans had done.

At the time of this discovery, Alfredo Fioravanti was still alive. In January 5 1961 he entered the US consulate in Rome and signed a confession. As a proof he presented the thumb of the Old Warrior which he had kept as a memento. On February 15 the Metropolitan Museum announced that the statues were forgeries.

Notes and references

* http://www.guardian.co.uk/btbroadbandsecurity/story/0,,1736129,00.html