The organ, which is part of the Superintendency, was closed by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in 2019 because of irregularities in issuing other certificates for other works.
The investigation by the Genoa Public Prosecutor’s Office is expanding, leading to the confiscation of the Risen Christ Appearing to the Mother, attributed to the Flemish painter Rubens and exhibited at the Palazzo Ducale until three days ago. The export office of the Superintendence of Pisa, the body that issues the certificate for the export of the painting, came under the crosshairs of investigators from the Nucleus for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. The office was closed by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in 2019 due to alleged irregularities in issuing other certifications for other works. According to investigators, coordinated by prosecutor Eugenia Menichetti and deputy Paolo D’Ovidio, the two art dealers under investigation may have approached this Pisa office precisely because they were friends with a compliant clerk.
After the military reconstructions led by Major Alessandro Caprio, the work belonged to the Cambiaso noble family of Genoa. The heirs had tried in vain to sell it, knowing the true attribution. They were then able to sell it to the two suspects in 2012 for 350,000 euros. The two merchants had it restored in 2014, revealing the second figure of a woman and had declassified the painting, falsely declaring to the Export Office of the Superintendency of Pisa that it was by an anonymous Flemish author and that it was worth 25 thousand euros. According to investigators, after a series of transfers to foreign companies prepared and also examined by an accountant and his son, the painting was loaned for the exhibition, also to certify its authorship of Rubens and increase its value.
Jan 2, 2023 (change Jan 2, 2023 | 5:13 p.m.)
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