Sgarbi denies any wrongdoing and says he won’t resign.
Italian junior tradition minister Vittorio Sgarbi is below investigation for his alleged position in a case involving a stolen portray that was allegedly altered to obscure its origins.
Sgarbi, a distinguished artwork critic identified for his outskpoken views, denies accusations that he exhibited the modified Seventeenth-century art work which had been stolen from a citadel in Italy’s northern Piemonte area in 2013.
The prosecutor’s workplace in Macerata confirmed on Tuesday that it has opened a file into the case, following stories in December by Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper and RAI Report.
The case rests on an accusation by a restoration knowledgeable that the stolen portray, attributed to Italian painter Rutilio Manetti, reappeared in an exhibition in Lucca in 2021 within the guise of a newly-discovered work owned by Sgarbi.
The restorer alleges that the work was handed to him “rolled up like a carpet” and – except for a candle – was equivalent to the Seize of St Peter portray torn from its body in Castello di Bruriasco 11 years in the past.
Sgarbi, 71, insists that they’re two separate work, the unique of which is his whereas the one stolen in 2013 was a “poorly made copy”.
Denying any wrongdoing, Sgarbi advised Corriere della Sera newspaper on Wednesday that he has no intention of resigning over the matter.
Photograph: Daniele de Gregorio / Shutterstock.com.
