A PAUL Gauguin still life
stolen from a wealthy collector's home in Britain decades ago has been recovered
after hanging for 40 years in a Sicilian autoworker's kitchen.
The worker bought the painting
along with one of lesser value by another French artist, Pierre Bonnard, for
about $100 at a 1975 Italian state railway auction of unclaimed lost items, said
Major Massimiliano Quagliarella of the paramilitary Carabinieri art theft
squad.Italian authorities estimated the still life's worth in a range from $A15 million to $A45 million.
And due to a quirk in Italian law, the autoworker may be able to keep the painting — if he could prove he bought it from the auction in good faith.
“The painting, showing fruit, seemed to fit in with dining room decor,” Maj. Quagliarella told The Associated Press about the now-retired autoworker's choice of placement in his kitchen, first in Turin, then in Sicily.
The painting is believed to have ''travelled” on a Paris-to-Turin train before it was found by railway personnel who put it in the lost-and-found depot, said General Mariano Mossa. After the autoworker retired to Sicily, the man's son, who studied architecture at university, noticed a telling detail: a dog curled up in the corner.
Dogs were sometimes a signature motif for Gauguin's work.
The man's son contacted an art expert to get an evaluation. The expert concluded the work was likely a Gauguin painting, and contacted the Carabinieri's division dedicated to recovering stolen and trafficked art and ancient artefacts.
The painting — named ''Fruit on a Table with a Small Dog” — depicts two bowls brimming with brightly coloured grapes, apples and other pieces of fruit. On the front is a painted “89” — an indication it was created in 1889. It now measures 46.5 by 53 centimetres — slightly smaller than when Gauguin created it because the thieves cut the painting out of its frame, police said.
The painting will remain in the custody of the art squad because the police have yet to receive an official notice that it is stolen, Maj. Quagliarella said. The art squad traced it using newspaper articles in 1970 reporting the theft of a wealthy London family's art collection.
Italy's culture minister, Dario Franceschini, called the painting's recovery an ''extraordinary” find.
London's Scotland Yard has been in contact with the Italian police but said in a statement it had not been possible to trace the records of the theft. Italian police found a photo of the painting in a June 28, 1961, auction in London.
Chris Marinello of Art Recovery International, which helps track down stolen artworks, said the story of treasures ending up in lost-and-found departments was not unprecedented.
In 2006, the Duchess of Argyll lost a tiara, a diamond Cartier brooch and other jewels at Glasgow Airport. Six years later they were put up for auction — it turned out they had been sold by the airport as unclaimed property. After negotiations, they were returned to the duchess.
Marinello said there could be a battle for ownership of the recovered paintings in Italy. Under Italian law, the autoworker could have a right to them if he could prove he bought them in good faith, he said.
“I'm sure this is not the last we will hear of this,” Mr Marinello said.
Picture:Source: AP
With thanks to The Australian
Some other posts on Art, or use the search function:
Van Gogh On Dark Water Animation
This Fake Rembrandt Was Created By An Algorithm
Fore-edge Painting: Artists Hide Paintings Along The Edges Of Old Books
Insanely Realistic Pencil Drawings
Found: A Missing Paul Gauguin Painting
Royal Academy of British Art Coming To Town
Australia and the UK Battle Over Historic Paintings Of A Kangaroo And A Dingo
Finally: A Digital Home For Lost Masterpieces
America: "Painting a Nation" Exhibition in Art Gallery of NSW
Chauvet Cave Paintings: Cave Women Left Their Artistic Mark
London exhibition of Australian art holds up a mirror to our nation: more iconic images
500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art
Some Fascinating Pictures featuring Alyssa Monks
Visual Art of the Human Body by Cecelia Webber
Ronnie Wood: His Art and The Rolling Stones
The lost Van Gogh: Painting found in Norwegian attic is confirmed as priceless work by Dutch master
Market Find Turns Out To Be A Lost Faberge Egg
Charles Dellschau: Secrets of An Undiscovered Visionary Artist
Tom Pinch: Time - Lapse Portraits of Paul McCartney and John Lennon
How JMW Turner Set Painting Free
The Curious Case Of The Renaissance Cockatoo
Images On Andy Warhol’s Old Computer Discs Excite University Students
Human Ingenuity: From the Renaissance to the Age of the Internet - The Sistine Chapel
Katsushika Hokusai: Japanese Artist
Picasso's "Women of Algiers" Breaks Auction Record
Looted Treasures Open Door To The Dark Nazi Past
Long-lost Caravaggio Masterpiece Found In French Attic
Frederic Remington: The Man Who Helped Bring The West To Life
Loving Vincent: The World's First Fully Painted Film
Vincenzo Peruggia: The Man Who Stole The Mona Lisa And Made Her more Famous Than Ever
The Isleworth Mona Lisa: A Second Leonardo Masterpiece?
Optical Illusions In Art
MC Escher: An Enigma Behind an Illusion
Hidden Degas Portrait Revealed
First Faberge Egg Created For 99 Years Goes To Doha
The World’s Priceless Treasures
Woman in Gold: Another Biopic For Dame Helen Mirren
Australia and the UK Battle Over Historic Paintings Of A Kangaroo And A Dingo
Finally: A Digital Home For Lost Masterpieces
Could Anyone Paint A Vermeer?
Artemisia Gentileschi - Her Biography And Her Art
John Constable Painting Sold By Christie's For £3,500 In June 2013 Will Now Go To Market To Sell For £2 million
The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy
Yulia Brodskaya:Paper Explodes With Life In This Artist's Hands
Images On Andy Warhol’s Old Computer Discs Excite University Students
Human Ingenuity: From the Renaissance to the Age of the Internet - The Sistine Chapel
Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Scotland’s Greatest Architect