When Baron de Dozsa acquired a Madonna and child painting fifty years ago, he could never have imagined the unholy row the charming 16th-century canvas would cause.
The work by the Italian artist Antonio Solario, which went missing from a museum in 1973 only for it to resurface in a Tudor manor in Norfolk decades later, is now to be returned to its rightful home.
The piece was taken from a museum in Belluno, northern Italy, and was subsequently bought in good faith by the baron, who displayed it at his 16th-century home. After the baron’s death, an art lawyer worked pro bono to persuade his widow, Barbara de Dozsa, to return the piece to the Civic Museum of Belluno.
Antonio Solario’s Madonna and Child
The stolen artwork, worth £80,000, was first spotted in 2017 when de Dozsa tried to sell it at a regional auction house. The authorities were contacted, and she initially refused to hand it back.
The sale had been halted, but Norfolk police returned the painting to de Dozsa in 2020. The force said this week that it had been advised to return the artwork because there had been “no response from the Italian authorities in relation to the investigation”.
De Dozsa cited the Limitation Act 1980, which can allow a person who owns stolen goods but was unconnected to the theft to be recognised as the legal owner after a certain period of time has elapsed.
East Barsham Manor, where the painting was kept by the de Dozsas
Christopher Marinello, an art lawyer who founded Art Recovery International, told The Guardian: “Her first argument was that when the British police gave her the painting back, they gave her good title. So I wrote to the police and they sent her a formal letter saying ‘by no means do we convey title to the painting’.”
Other paintings by Solario, known as Lo Zingaro (the Gypsy), hang in the National Gallery in London. He was working in the first two decades of the 16th century.
The Madonna and child had been bought by the museum in Belluno 1872, where it remained until it was one of several pictures taken by thieves in 1973. Some of the pictures were later recovered in Austria.
Chris Marinello, the founder of Art Recovery International, helped to recover the painting
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
ART RECOVERY INTERNATIONAL
Marinello said he had understood from de Dozsa that she would return the painting if the £6,000 she had accumulated in legal fees was paid. He claimed he found the money for her but then she changed her position.
He said: “Her husband could not have paid more than a couple of hundred [pounds] back in 1973. It’s only worth maybe £60,000 to £80,000 now. She refuses to co-operate unless she gets paid the full value, but she can never sell the painting.
“No legitimate auction house will ever touch it … the Carabinieri [a branch of Italian law enforcement] have it on their database and will never take it off. As soon as that painting goes to Italy, it’s going to be seized.”
Following de Dozsa’s decision to give back the work, the art lawyer said: “She has restored my faith in humanity when so many possessors today of stolen artwork try to hold on to it. Despite the rights of the victim, people have no sympathy any more and she has proven otherwise.”
He added: “When it comes to returning stolen art and doing the right thing, I can be annoyingly persistent. But ultimately, it was Barbara de Dozsa’s decision to make, and she chose wisely.”
De Dozsa did not respond to requests for a comment.