A wooden statue depicting a Madonna and Child, dating back to the 14th century and stolen in 1977 from the Castle of Monselice (Padua), has been recovered by Carabinieri of the Venice Cultural Heritage Protection Unit at the end of an investigation conducted in collaboration with the Monza TPC Unit and coordinated by the Bergamo Public Prosecutor’s Office. The work was located in Zogno, in the province of Bergamo, and will be returned to the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice.
The theft of the sculpture dates back to March 10, 1977, when the artifact was taken from the complex then known as Cini Castle, now called Monselice Castle, in the territory of the province of Padua. The complaint was filed with the local Carabinieri station and, even at that time, photographs of the work were entered into the database of illegally stolen cultural property managed by the Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Command. The computerized archive represents one of the main tools for combating illicit trafficking in the sector and now contains nearly eight million census artifacts, of which about one million are still to be searched.
According to reports from the TPC Command, the evolution of technological tools has enabled both preventive and investigative activities to be strengthened in recent years. Indeed, the use of advanced computer systems and artificial intelligence-based applications allows for expanded information sharing and the use of publicly accessible open source content. At the same time, specific investigative tools have been perfected, including the S.W.O.A.D.S. system, an acronym for Stolen Works Of Art Detection System, developed to identify stolen works of art and intercept illicit trafficking phenomena that increasingly find the Internet as one of the main channels of dissemination.
The recovered sculpture is an all-round wooden artifact, 121 centimeters high, placed on an octagonal base made of the same material. The work belongs to the 14th-century Sienese school and is traced to the production of the Pisa-Lucca workshops active at the time, which were related to the Sienese sculptor Francesco di Valdambrino. The stylistic characteristics, including the quality of the polychromes and the attention to detail in the workmanship, make it possible to approximate the artifact to the artistic tradition traceable to the author, who was active between the end of the 14th century and the first decades of the 15th century. The statue also presents significant value both from an artistic and devotional point of view.
The recovery was made possible thanks to web monitoring activities carried out by personnel of the Carabinieri Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale of Venice. During the checks, investigators spotted a scientific publication describing the work. The presence of the statue within the study initiated further checks, which led to its location in the territory of the province of Bergamo. Subsequent investigations allowed the identity of the artifact to be reconstructed through a series of comparative investigations. Specialists from the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Brescia, which is responsible for the province of Bergamo, and the Cultural Heritage Office of the Diocese of Bergamo also intervened to support the investigative activity.
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| TPC Carabinieri recover a 14th-century wooden Madonna stolen in 1977 from Monselice Castle |
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