Simone Facchinetti's book unveils art market secrets

Simone Facchinetti, a researcher in modern art history at the University of Salento, has published "Storie e segreti dal mercato dell'arte" (Il Mulino, 2019, 240 pp., €15). The book collects short essays, many previously published in Alias Domenica and Il Giornale dell'Arte, that examine why similar artworks fetch vastly different auction prices. Facchinetti focuses on late 16th- and 17th-century paintings, drawing on his own research and collaborations. He identifies three key valuation variables: intrinsic quality, attribution, and market taste. The book includes interviews with art historians and collectors to reveal the mechanisms of connoisseurship and the passion that drives buyers to overpay. Divided into four chapters—"Attribuire," "Vero o falso?," "Il mondo dei collezionisti," and "Il valore delle opere d'arte e le montagne russe del mercato"—it explores how misread inscriptions, mistaken discoveries of lost works, and even the nationality of scholars can skew attributions. Facchinetti also shows how collectors' tastes for profane themes or eccentric artists like Artemisia Gentileschi and Leonardo's circle lead auction houses to tailor expertise accordingly. A case in point: a work with a Leonardesque subject like Salvator Mundi may be attributed to Leonardo's circle despite scant stylistic evidence. The book's brisk case studies and ironic tone make it accessible to non-specialists.