ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s deputy culture minister, Vittorio Sgarbi, an art critic and outspoken television personality who champions the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage, has Police are investigating a 17th-century painting that was stolen on Friday.
The painting disappeared from a castle near the northern Italian city of Turin in 2013, the Carabinieri police’s art heritage unit said in a statement.
Prosecutors suspect it ended up in Sgarbi’s hands through fraudulent means and are investigating him for laundering stolen goods, police added.
The politician denies any wrongdoing and says his mother found the painting, which she says is the work of Siena-based painter Rutilio Manetti, in a villa she bought about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Rome. Ta.
Sgarbi, 71, was a longtime member of parliament and close to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who died last year. He is known for his short temper, frequent use of name-calling, and playboy lifestyle, but he is also a respected curator and art expert.
Carabinieri police said Sgarbi is also suspected of slightly altering the painting, such as adding a torch to the top left corner, in an attempt to hide its criminal origins.
The artwork, along with its 3D copy, was seized from a warehouse after a series of searches by prosecutors, they added.
The painting, which Sgarbi called “The Capture of St. Peter,” depicts a judge sentencing a man who resembles the Christian saint.
Police said the artist, who is unknown, was reminiscent of 17th-century Italian painters Francesco Solimena and Bernardo Cavallino.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Gavin Jones and Rosalba O’Brien)
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