Italy’s deputy culture minister is under investigation for allegedly laundering stolen goods, specifically a Baroque painting that was reported stolen from a castle in Italy’s Piedmont region a decade ago.
Deputy Minister Vittorio Sgarbi, an art historian, critic, and media personality, has maintained his innocence.
The story of the investigation began in 2013, when a painting was reported stolen from the castle, which at one time was a restaurant, according to police documents. Eight years later, in 2021, Sgarbi exhibited a painting from his collection called “The Capture of St. Peter”, attributed to 17th-century artist Rutilio Manetti, in an exhibition he organized in Lucca, Tuscany.
This month, prosecutors in the central Italian town of Macerata seized “The Capture of St. Peter,” saying in a statement given to Italy’s art theft police that the painting had been reported stolen from a castle in Piedmont. He said he believed it to be a painting by Mr. Sugarbi. The items on sale are the same. Mr. Sgarbi is under investigation but has not been charged with a crime.
The investigation followed an investigation into reports of the theft of a Piedmont painting by the daily newspaper Il Fatt Quotidiano and the investigative TV program Report on state broadcaster RAI 3, which interviewed restorers and Sgarbi’s associates. .
The castle’s owner told reporters that a man visited the castle and offered to buy the painting, but the painting went missing shortly after the woman refused to sell it, police said in a statement. The man was identified in a television investigation as a former associate and friend of Mr. Sgarbi.
Investigative reporters also spoke to a restorer in Brescia, northern Italy, who said he had been asked by Mr. Sgarbi to restore a painting that fit the description of Piedmont’s work.
Restorer Gianfranco Mingardi said in a telephone interview that Sgarbi contacted him in 2013 and said he would send the painting to be restored. Mingardi said the painting’s version had to be taken with great care because the canvas was delivered rolled up and “the paint peeled off when I unfolded it.” The outside edges had been cut off, Mingardi said.
It was repaired in 2016, but he says, “It took a long time.”
Mr. Sgarbi’s lawyer, Giampaolo Cicconi, declined to be interviewed by a New York Times reporter, writing in an email that he “does not intend to make a statement at this sensitive stage.”
In an interview with Report, Sugarbi said her mother’s painting was found in the attic of the villa she bought in 2000.
Mr. Sgarbi claims that the two works are different, particularly that his painting has a small torch in the upper left corner, while the Piedmontese painting (known only from photographs) does not. noticed. He said these are two versions of the same painting.
“The Capture of St. Peter” will now be examined by a group of experts who will try to determine if the two works match.
Police documents say the person who stole the Piedmont painting in 2013 cut it from its frame and replaced it with a scale-sized plasticized copy. When cutting it out, they left behind a small piece that was found when an investigative reporter visited the castle last year as part of a media investigation.
Prosecutors’ experts will try to determine whether Mr. Sgarbi’s painting fits into that frame and whether the fragments fit into his painting. They are also trying to determine whether the torch in Sgarbi’s painting was painted in the 17th century or was added later.
This is not the first time Sgarbi has been involved in controversy. Known for his short temper and foul language, he has been in the headlines in Italy for decades.
Last year, he came under intense scrutiny for receiving compensation for public events such as conferences and book introductions despite being a member of parliament, and one of Italy’s antitrust authorities said that Mr. An investigation will be carried out to determine whether he is involved in “activities that are inconsistent with the position of a member of the Diet.” It’s part of the government. ” A verdict is expected in the coming weeks.
In response to the recent uproar, the opposition party is calling for Mr. Sgarbi to be dismissed as deputy minister of culture, and the opposition party, the Five Star Movement, has submitted a motion to that effect in parliament, which is scheduled to be debated next week.
The government has remained silent, but the complaint to antitrust authorities was initiated by his boss, Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano.
After “The Capture of St. Peter” was seized by Italy’s art police, Mr. Sgarbi said on social media that he voluntarily surrendered the painting so that it could be thoroughly investigated. “I am completely calm,” he wrote on Facebook. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”