{"id":33827,"date":"2025-07-24T13:43:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T13:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/33827\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T13:43:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T13:43:20","slug":"stolen-madonna-and-child-renaissance-painting-returns-to-italy-after-52-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/33827\/","title":{"rendered":"Stolen ‘Madonna and Child’ Renaissance painting returns to Italy after 52 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Published on
\n 23\/07\/2025 – 14:02 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n

\"\"
\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n

Antonio Solario’s ‘Madonna and Child’, a long-sought after Italian Renaissance masterpiece has finally returned home to the Civic Museum of Belluno after more than 50 years. <\/p>\n

But, in order for it to complete its journey, the painting’s British owner, Barbara de Dozsa, needed a lot of convincing that it was “the right thing to do” as the 16th-century oil painting was stolen from the museum in 1973.<\/p>\n

De Dozsa, who inherited the canvas from her late ex-husband, had initially refused to return it,<\/a> despite it being on Interpol\u2019s stolen art database ever since the heist.<\/p>\n

She was eventually persuaded to hand it back by Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International, who specialises in the recovery of looted art.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to returning stolen art and doing the right thing, I can be annoyingly persistent\u201d, said Marinello, who has been widely described as the art world\u2019s Sherlock Holmes.<\/p>\n

The artwork\u2019s unconditional release was ultimately \u201cBarbara de Dozsa\u2019s decision to make, and she chose wisely\u201d, he said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Marinello\u2019s family originated from the Veneto region, where Belluno is located. He handled the negotiations with de Dozsa on a pro bono basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer kindness has restored my faith in people who unknowingly come into possession of stolen or looted works of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonio Solario was trained in Venice and worked during the first two decades of the 16th century. His work is exhibited across Europe, including at the National Gallery in London.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Civic Museum of Belluno originally acquired his ‘Madonna and Child’ in 1872 among other works that were stolen a century later.<\/p>\n

De Dosza\u2019s former husband, the late Baron de Dozsa, bought the painting in 1973, soon after the robbery. Not knowing where it was from, he brought it back to his Norfolk estate in England.<\/p>\n

Its whereabouts were unknown until Barbara de Dozsa tried to sell it at a regional auction house in 2017.<\/p>\n

She claimed ownership based on the UK Limitations Act of 1980, which states that a person who buys stolen goods can be recognised as the legal owner after six years, if the purchase was unrelated to the theft.<\/p>\n

\u201cNonsense\u201d, said Marinello, who claimed the painting\u2019s listing on stolen art databases meant it could \u201cnever be sold, exhibited, or even transported without the risk of being seized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belluno welcomed the Solario\u2019s ultimate return with joy. \u201cToday is a day of celebration\u201d, the town\u2019s mayor Oscar de Pellegrin said in an Instagram post.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the museum praised Barbara de Dozsa\u2019s \u201cgood faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Civic Museum of Belluno will exhibit the \u201cMadonna and Child\u201d until 27 July. It will then be removed to undergo restoration work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 23\/07\/2025 – 14:02 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Antonio Solario’s ‘Madonna and Child’, a long-sought after Italian Renaissance masterpiece…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,6801,1033,28147,28148,1049],"class_list":["post-33827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-italy","tag-painting","tag-renaissance-period","tag-stolen-art","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}