A painting of Madonna and Child from the 16th century which had been stolen from a museum in Italy about 50 years ago, ended up in the possession of a woman living in England.
A woman named Barbara de Dozsa had previously refused to give the painting back despite it being internationally recognized as stolen.
As per The Guardian, she claimed she had the right to keep it, partly because her late husband had bought the painting without knowing it was stolen.
Christopher Marinello, a well-known expert in art law, made several attempts over the years to convince the woman to return the stolen painting to the museum.
He didn’t charge any money for his work because he wanted to help the town in Italy where his family originally came from.
Barbara has now finally decided to return the painting to the museum in Italy where it originally belonged and was last seen in 1973.
The painting was created by Antonio Solaria, an Italian artist also known as Lo Zingaro.
This particular piece was acquired by the Civic Museum of Belluno in 1872 but was stolen, along with other artworks around 100 years later.
While some of the stolen items were soon found in Austria, the Solario painting ended up being purchased there by Barbara’s husband from an unknown seller.
Beside this, another artwork titled Madonna and Child, created by the 19th-century Italian painter Placido Fabris is still missing after being stolen from the Belluno museum and is officially listed in the Carabinieri's stolen art database, which tracks lost or stolen cultural property in Italy.
