Fake masterpieces were being marketed online.

Rome police have uncovered an art forgery workshop where fake paintings by artists including Rembrandt and Picasso were produced before being sold on e-Bay.

An investigation by the Carabinieri TPC art squad led officers to a clandestine studio in an apartment in the northern outskirts of Rome where 71 paintings were seized together with paints, canvases and easels.

Police also confiscated forged certicifates guaranteeing the "authenticity" of the works, which were falsely attributed to collections and art galleries no longer active, along with fake sales declarations, modified auction catalogues and a typewriter.

Officers were led to the residence - home of an art restorer working in Rome - after coming across the unlikely presence of masterpieces for sale on e-commerce sites.

The fake paintings were being passed off as the work of more than 20 different artists, ranging from Picasso and Rembrandt to Paul-Emile Pissarro, Giacomo Balla and Anna De Weert, according to a statement from the Carabinieri  TPC.

Photo Carabinieri TPC