Forged works by Sorolla, Benlliure and Modigliani seized and 32 'dodgy dealers' arrested

A FORGED art-dealing racket has been broken up and 40 counterfeit works seized, including numerous copies of those by famous 19th-century Valencian painters such as Joaquín Sorolla and Mariano and José Benlliure.

They included one by Amedeo Modigliani (shown in the above picture by the Valencian regional police force) which was due for sale for a six-figure sum.

Most of those already shifted had fetched around €170,000 apiece, but if they had been originals as the vendors claimed they were, their value would have been 'incalculable', investigating officers say.

A total of 32 people have been ordered to testify in the courts of Alcoy (Alicante province), Valencia, Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, Barcelona, Málaga, Pamplona (Navarra) and Cuenca.

Of the 40-plus paintings, 25 were copies of works by Valencian artists – in addition to Sorolla and the Benlliures, the pictures were found to be forgeries of originals by Ignacio Pinazo, Cecilio Pla, José Segrelles, Genaro Lahuerta, Juan Bautista Porcar, Juan García Ripollés and Eustaquio Segrelles.

Another work by Wilfredo Lam and two by Luis Feito were confiscated.

Arrests and raids were carried out in Valencia, Castellón, Sevilla, Alcoy, Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, Cuenca, Granada and Pamplona, and the counterfeits were identified with the help of art experts from the San Pío V Museum in Valencia.