Italian Culture Minister Accused of Theft
January 12 2024
Picture: The Telegraph
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Curious news from Italy that a Culture Minister, Vittorio Sgarbi, has been accused by officials of taking a painting by Rutilio Manetti from a castle in the northern region of Piedmont in 2013. The seventeenth century work was purportedly replaced with a photocopy.
The most curious part of the story is:
It is claimed that Mr Sgarbi acquired the artwork and hired a professional art restorer to paint a burning torch attached to a wall bracket in the top left of the painting to make it less identifiable.
Sgarbi claims that the work is a later copy and that he acquired it elsewhere. The case is being investigated.
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