For decades, Picasso's painting hung in the living room of a dealer who had no idea about the artist
Kyiv • UNN
The portrait of Dora Maar by Picasso, found in 1960s in Capri, is estimated at 6 million euros. The owner did not know about the painting's value until his son recognized the artist's style in the 2000s.
The portrait, found in the 1960s by a second-hand dealer in southern Italy, is now valued at 6 million euros.
Written by UNN with references to Euronews, Guardian and Il Giorno.
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In 1962, while cleaning out the basement of a villa in Capri, a man found a rolled-up canvas depicting a woman's disheveled face. Although the signature “Picasso” was clearly visible in the upper left corner, the name meant nothing to Luigi Lo Rosso, who was 24 years old at the time, and he decided to take the painting home, where he hung it on the wall in a cheap frame. At one point, the family even considered getting rid of the painting
It was only in the early 2000s that Lo Rosso's eldest son pointed out to his parents the strong resemblance between the painting hanging in the living room and the works of Picasso described in his school textbooks, and suggested that the house might contain an original.
On Monday, Il Giorno newspaper reported on the authentication of the signature of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso on a painting he dedicated to French photographer and poet Dora Maar, with whom Picasso had a romantic relationship in the 1930s and 1940s. The portrait was titled “Buste de Femme Dora Maar” (Bust of Femme (Dora Maar).
“After all the other research on the painting was completed, I was commissioned to study the signature. There is no doubt about it,” Cinzia Altieri, a graphologist and representative of the Arcadia Foundation's scientific committee, told the Guardian.
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Picasso frequently visited the island of Capri in southern Italy; Lo Rosso is said to have been created between 1930 and 1936.
Important note: there is an almost identical painting Bust de Femme (Dora Maar).
