Working towards the Duce: five recent books on Mussolini

ABSTRACT

Giovanni Freppa (1795–1870), a well-known antiquarian, was instrumental in propelling the Ginori maiolica firm to reinvent the technique of Renaissance lustreware. The so-called ‘Freppa Scandal’ resulted after he sold as authentic Renaissance pieces a number of plates made by Ginori. Freppa was also famous, or rather infamous, for his exploitation of the young sculptor Giovanni Bastianini, whose remarkable neo-Renaissance portrait busts were sometimes sold as authentic Renaissance works. The Louvre purchased for an enormous price a bust believed to be a Renaissance masterpiece; but it was actually executed by Bastianini in 1864 on commission from Freppa, resulting in ‘the Benivieni Affair’. But this article is not primarily intended to expand on Freppa’s transactions in the art world; rather, it highlights his activities in many other spheres, including a failed publishing project with Giacomo Leopardi, among other activities. Freppa was a more complex individual than indicated merely by the two above-mentioned scandals.