Category:Luigi Parmeggiani

English: Luigi Francesco Giovanni Parmeggiani (2 April 1860-1945), also known as Louis Marcy, Italian jewellery designer and famous metalwork faker. Born in 1860 in Reggio Emilia, Italy, he, according to his words, was first an apprentice to a printer, and then to a jeweler. In 1880, he moved to France, then to Brussels in 1888, finally settling in London where he lived in 1888-1903. Staring from 1894-1895, Parmeggiani was selling forged medieval and Renaissance artifacts to the V & A Museum and the British Museum. After returning to Paris in 1903, he was arrested as an alleged anarchist and spent five months in jail. From 1907 to 1914, Parmeggiani published an arts journal in Paris, Le Connaisseur: Revue critique des arts et curiosités. In 1922, Parmeggiani was exposed by Otto von Falke as one of the "all-time great forgers." He retired to Reggio Emilia, presenting his hometown with a collection of his and other artists' works (see Parmeggiani Art Gallery). The Mercy Fakes phrase was coined after him.