Photo: riccioddi.it/il-klimt-autentico/
Long-lost Gustav Klimt painting found hidden in Italian gallery wall
Experts have confirmed that a painting discovered hidden inside an Italian art gallery’s wall is Gustav Klimt’s ‘Portrait of a Lady,’ which was stolen from the gallery back in 1997.
Photo: riccioddi.it/il-klimt-autentico/
Italian authorities have confirmed a painting found hidden in the wall of a Piacenza art gallery is the long-lost ‘Portrait of a Lady’ by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The portrait is said to be part of a series of female portraits that Klimt painted in the last few years of his life, some of which were never finished.
CNN reports that gardeners at the Ricci Oddi Modern Art in Piacenza in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy found the canvas, partially concealed by a black trash bag, while cleaning ivy off a wall this past December.
‘Portrait of a Lady’
It is said that workers discovered the trash bag with the ‘Portrait of a Lady’ painting after they opened a small, rusted metal door which revealed a cavity that had been hidden by more than 30cm of ivy.
The portrait, which depicts a young woman with rouged cheeks and dark hair, disappeared from the gallery during a building renovation in 1997 and was presumed stolen.
In a statement published on their website in January, the gallery said that experts had deemed the painting to be authentic.
The painting’s disappearance
The painting’s disappearance in 1997 was somewhat of a mystery as its frame was found near the gallery’s skylight shortly after the work disappeared, leading to speculation that the thieves could have entered and left through it. Reuters news agency also reported that a forgery of the painting, wrapped up and posted to a disgraced politician, was seized by authorities a month later at the time.
And now the discovery of the painting inside the wall suggests the work may have never even left the building.
Reuters also reported that the portrait was second on the list of the most valuable artworks missing in Italy, after a work by Caravaggio stolen from a church in Sicily in 1969.
About Gustav Klimt
Born in 1862, Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. He is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d’art. Klimt’s primary subject was the female body.
