Overview

In 1971, a struggling artist arrived in Rome with nothing but talent and desperate dreams. By 1980, he had deceived museums, millionaires, and mafia bosses-building a criminal empire on canvas and lies. When poverty crushed his artistic ambitions, he discovered a darker gift: the ability to paint like the dead masters so perfectly that even experts couldn't tell the difference. One forgery became ten. Ten became fifty. A Caravaggio here, an Artemisia there-each masterpiece more daring than the last. But this wasn't just about creating beautiful fakes. His paintings became tools for politicians laundering bribes, collateral for mafia loans, and treasures in Vatican collections. He recruited chemists to age his canvases centuries overnight, archivists to forge provenance documents, and dealers to place his work in the world's most prestigious collections. Rome's elite fell completely for the illusion. Senators. Cardinals. Aristocrats with ancestral palazzos. They paid millions for paintings created in a warehouse weeks earlier-never suspecting the Renaissance masterpieces hanging in their galleries were born in the 1970s. The Big Fake reveals the true story of one of history's most audacious art frauds: how a master forger infiltrated high society, outsmarted authentication experts, and nearly got away with rewriting art history itself. This is a story of genius misapplied, desperation turned criminal, and the dangerous question at the heart of the art world: If no one can tell the difference, does authenticity really matter? Based on real events from 1970s Rome's criminal underworld, this gripping documentary explores the psychology of deception, the vulnerability of expertise, and the inevitable price of building an empire on beautiful lies. This is the true crime art thriller you've been waiting for.

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