The dream of all scholars, finding a lost masterpiece, became reality for the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Italy, who managed to track down in Gragnano, near Naples, a Virgin Mary and Child by Sandro Botticelli, one of the major names of the Florence Renaissance whose Birth of Venus and Primavera hang in the Uffizi gallery. The Italian authorities estimate the Madonna delle Grazie, as it is known, to be worth around $109 million.
But the painting was hidden in plain sight. This Botticelli Madonna was in a private house, entrusted to a Somma family since decades. Although private property, it was listed among the works of art that are part of the Italian Cultural Heritage, protected by the State Soprintendenza, supposedly subject to constant monitoring; only it had not been monitored since the Eighties.
The Madonna‘s precise history is unknown, but its presence was noted in the chapel of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Santa Maria della Carità, a town near Naples, where it remained at least until 1902. The estate was sold and the painting risked being destroyed by fire; it was then given into the custody of the Somma family. In the Sixties, art historian Raffaello Causa attributed it to Sandro Botticelli, declaring it had been painted in the artist’s youth, around 1470.
When the Carabinieri realized that a Botticelli on the heritage list had not been inspected in 50 years, they drove to Gragnano and found the painting exactly where it was supposed to be, handed down along the generations. Yes, we have a Botticelli in the drawing room, care to see it?
The Madonna is in poor condition, the tempera paint cracked and discolored, also due to clumsy restoration efforts.
While the ownership remains with the Sommas, the State will now take care of a one-year-long restoration; the Madonna should then finally be made available for public viewing in a museum in Naples. Luckily for Italy, the Sommas respected the restrictions that since 1931 stated the painting could not be moved outside the country.
