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Art Mysteries · 1984; later historical exhibitions

Three heads rose from the canal. None was Modigliani’s.

Livorno went looking for a legend and briefly found the masterpieces it expected to see.

Livorno, ItalySolved hoax; the three heads are not authentic Modigliani works
The three fake heads associated with the 1984 Livorno hoax; they are not sculptures by Amedeo Modigliani.
The three fake heads associated with the 1984 Livorno hoax; they are not sculptures by Amedeo Modigliani. The three fake heads on display / photograph published by QuiLivorno, January 2025 ↗

A legend meets a dredger

During the centenary of Modigliani’s birth in 1984, a search in Livorno’s Fosso Reale pursued the story that the young artist had thrown sculptures into the canal. Three stone heads emerged. The apparent find excited some prominent critics, who accepted them as his work. A rumour had suddenly acquired objects that seemed to confirm it. [1][3]

The makers step forward

The objects had a much shorter history. Three students revealed that they had made one head with modern tools and thrown it into the water. Artist Angelo Froglia had made the other two. Rai’s retrospective records how the discoveries unfolded between July and August, before September exposed the deception. There was no rediscovered Modigliani masterpiece behind any of the three. [2]

An afterlife as evidence

The students demonstrated their carving methods on television; the scandal became a lasting lesson in attribution. Yet the heads did not cease to matter once exposed. A 2014 exhibition in Pisa presented the three fakes as historical objects in their own right. Their interest lies in the documented hoax and its reception, not in an unresolved possibility of authenticity. [1][3]

What is established · what remains open

Solved hoax; the three heads are not authentic Modigliani works

This is a solved deception, not a missing-work case or an open attribution question. The photographed fakes should never be captioned as genuine Modigliani sculptures.

Artwork Details & DocumentationIdentification, ownership history and supporting records

Individual artwork identification details have not yet been documented in this record. Missing specifications are not inferred from the photograph or report headline.

Not documented in this record: object type · materials & technique · measurements · inscriptions & markings · distinguishing features · artwork title · maker / attribution · creation date / period · subject.

Record sources

Identification details follow the Object ID categories where documented. Ownership history is recorded separately; this documentation is not an authentication or a certificate of ownership.

Sources & documentation

  1. Comune di Pisa: exhibition of the three fake sculptures, 2014 ↗
  2. Rai News: reconstruction of the hoax, 2016 ↗
  3. Artnet News: The Great Modigliani Sculpture Hoax of 1984 ↗
  4. QuiLivorno: museum display of the three fake heads, 2025 ↗

An original ArtTraceX feature based on the cited sources, checked 9 November 2026. Legends and hypotheses are distinguished from established facts. Images are identified in their captions.

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