Italy had lost track of a Botticelli painting valued at €100 million.
A painting by Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli that was missing from state records for more than 50 years has been recovered from a private home in Naples, Italy.
The resurfaced painting of the Madonna and Child is in very poor condition and will undergo a delicate, year-long restoration overseen by the Italian culture ministry.
The artwork, valued at around €100 million, was reportedly handed over voluntarily to the Naples branch of the Carabineri unit for protection of Italy's cultural heritage.
Botticelli, the Florentine artist famed for La Primavera and Birth of Venus, is believed to have painted the artwork in the late 15th century.
The painting was originally housed in a church in Santa Maria la Carità, a town near Naples, but was subsequently entrusted to a family in nearby Gragnano who handed it down from generation to generation.
The canvas was listed by the Italian state in 1931, a move confirmed in 1968, before it slipped off the radar and fell into disrepair.
The painting is expected to go on public display in Naples following an extensive programme of restoration and studies.
Main Image :Italian police’s cultural heritage team with the Botticelli. Photograph: Naples carabinieri
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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