AFFAIRS OF A PAINTER - By J. F. Joni This
odd and enjoyable book (Faber, 10s. 6d.) is the auto- biography of a painter of bogus antiques—bogus, that is, only because of the claims made for them in the process of marketing, for as works of art they were obviously of con- siderable merit. Signor Joni (it is surely only publisher's caprice which spells his name otherwise on the title-page) began his professional career with a modest job in a gilder's studio, but his prowess was such that he was soon promoted from humdrum routine work to undertake difficult tasks of restoration. In his leisure he experimented on his own in producing works in classical styles, and finding this occu- pation interesting and profitable took to it as a preferable means of gaining a livelihood. In the course of time he became recognised as an expert in the underworld of art, and turned out pictures, triptychs, chests and book-bindings which were regularly disposed of as originals by the dealers in collaboration with whom he worked. Signor Ioni's attitude to the business of marketing was somewhat cynical. He took a true craftsman's pride in producing his works, but his main object in life was to earn enough to be able to enjoy himself, and once he had received the dealer's fee he felt that his responsibility in the matter was at an end. In point of fact the sums which he did receive were by no means large-250 lire for portraits, and 180 lire for triptychs, which later found their way into the collections of ..realthy and uninformed connoisseurs for immensely greater sums. The technical details which he gives of the methods employed to give the correct appearance of antiquity to his works are of great interest, as arc his accounts of his work when he was employed to restore frescoes and gilding in churches and elsewhere. As a background to the story of Signor Ioni's professional career there is a fascinating account of his part in the tumults of Sienese life from 1866 onwards, in which the most emphasised ingredients are an infancy made hectic by quarrelling relations and spells in a Bastards' Home (his father committed suicide before he was born), the pageants, political brawls, and unceasing and complicated love-affairs. The picture is convincing, but Signor Ioni's other pictures deceived even experts, and one can only hope that he has not brought over his usual technique into the domain of letters.
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