Artemisia Gentileschi painting illegally exported from Italy recovered in Austria

An important work by Artemisia Gentileschi that had been illegally exported in 2019 has been returned to Italy: it is Caritas Romana (History of Cimone and Pero), dating from the last period of the painter’s career (it was made around 1643-1644), and formerly kept at the Marchione Castle in Conversano (Bari). Three years ago, according to the charge against two people, who are being investigated for fraud and illegal export of cultural goods, the work was presented through an intermediary agency to the Export Office in Genoa, downplaying the issue of attribution to Artemisia Gentileschi and keeping silent about the pertinential attachment to the Conversano Castle, in order to underestimate the value of the painting and thus facilitate its exit by obtaining a certificate of free circulation.

The owners had thus managed to get the painting out and entrusted it to a major Austrian auction house to sell. The work, however, is of great importance because it fits within one of the most interesting chapters of art history in Apulia in the modern age, centered on the figure of the Count of Conversano and Duke of Nardò Giangirolamo II Acquaviva d’Aragona and his wife Isabella Filomarino della Rocca. They were patrons, collectors and promoters of new artistic sites with the ambition of creating an autonomous seigniory, moving away from Naples and choosing Conversano itself. The Caritas belonged precisely to the collection of Giangirolamo II Acquaviva of Aragon. It was certainly not an unknown painting: made known in 2018, it had been presented precisely in Conversano during an exhibition curated by Viviana Farina and Giacomo Lanzillotta dedicated to the collection of Giangirolamo II.

The painting was unveiled yesterday morning in Bari, at Palazzo Simi, during a press conference with the authorities that allowed its return, thanks to a synergistic work between several entities. Present were Bari’s Public Prosecutor, Dr. Roberto Rossi, Deputy Prosecutor, Dr. Alessio Coccioli, Deputy Prosecutor, Dr. Baldo Pisani, the Soprintendente Archeologia belle arti e paesaggio for the metropolitan city of Bari, arch. Giovanna Cacudi, the former Director of the DG ABAP-Service IV of the MiC, Dr. Beatrice Bentivoglio Ravasio, the Commander of the Carabinieri Group for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (TPC) in Rome, Lt. Col. Alfio Gullotta, and the Commander of the TPC Unit in Bari, Lt. Col. Giovanni Di Bella.

“To be able to show the Artemisia painting today at the headquarters of the Superintendency was for us a source of both honor and pride,” the Superintendency announced. “In fact, the investigative and cultural activities conducted and still in progress have made it possible to return to the Italian, Apulian territory and its communities a piece of the cultural heritage that we defend daily in order to preserve it, learn more about it and deliver it to future generations. More than ever today, on the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination attempt on Paolo Borsellino, we want to recall the words of Peppino Impastato with which the Prosecutor of the Republic of Bari kicked off the press conference: ’we should educate people about beauty so that in men and women habit and resignation no longer creep in, but curiosity and wonder always remain alive.’”

Artemisia Gentileschi painting illegally exported from Italy recovered in Austria

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