An original Picasso painting was found in the basement of a junk dealer: his wife called it “terrible” | Culture

LL Ross found the portrait in 1962 when he took it home to Pompeii. So it hung in a cheap frame on the wall of the living room for several decades.

The portrait, which its owners now believe is a distorted image of Dora Maar, a French photographer and painter, Mr. Picasso’s lover and muse. In the upper left corner was the distinctive signature of the famous artist, but LLRosso had no idea who it was.

Suspicions arose much later. The merchant’s son Andrea Lo Rosso, who read the art history encyclopedia given to him by his aunt, began to ask questions.

Finally, the family turned to a team of experts and renowned art detective Maurizio Seracini. After several years of complex research, Cinzia Altieri, a graphologist and art appraiser from the background of Arcadia, confirmed that the signature on the 6 million The painting costing EUR 100,000 is actually P. Picasso.

“After all the other research on the painting, I was tasked with examining the signature,” Altieri told The Guardian. – I’ve been working on it for months, comparing it to some of his original work. There is no doubt that the signature is his.”

Picasso was a frequent visitor to the island of Capri and this painting, which is very similar to Picasso’s Dora Maar, is believed to have been painted between 1930 and 1936.

After the death of LLRosso, his 60-year-old son ALRosso did not stop searching for the real author of the painting.

“My father was from Capri and he collected rubbish which he sold for next to nothing,” he said. – He found the painting before I was born and had no idea who Mr. Picasso was. He was not a very cultured person. When I was reading about P. Picasso’s works in the encyclopedia, I would look at the painting and compare it with his signature. I kept telling my father it was similar, but he didn’t understand. But as I grew up, I never stopped wondering.”

ALRosso said there were moments when the family considered getting rid of the painting: “My mom didn’t want to keep it — she kept saying it was scary.”

He approached the Picasso Foundation in Malaga several times, but, he said, the foundation was not interested in his claims because they thought they were false. The foundation has the final say on the authenticity of the painting, which is now in storage in Milan.

Mr. Picasso, who died in 1973, created more than 14 thousand. works, and the foundation receives hundreds of messages every day from people claiming to have the original painting.

in 1938 the painting “Dora Maar” was painted in 1999. was stolen from the yacht of a sheikh of Saudi Arabia and found 20 years later.

Luca Marcante, president of the Arcadia Foundation, believes that there may be two versions of the work.

“They could both be original,” he told Il Giorno newspaper. – Probably, these are two not exactly identical portraits of the same object, painted in two different periods. One thing is certain: the one found in Capri and now kept in a vault in Milan is authentic.”