RUBENS SEIZED IN GENOA EXHIBITION

Italy's cultural guardians, the Carabiniere Commando Tutela Culturale Patrimonio (Protection of Cultural Heritage) have closed the year with another triumph – the identification and seizure by the TCP Genoese branch of “Christ Resurrected Appears to his Mother” attributed to the Flemish master Rubens and his school. The painting, which was in private hands, appeared in an exhibition on “Rubens in Genoa” at Palazzo Ducale, complete with false documents that would have allowed its sale and exportation. Rubens worked for some time in Genoa at the service of the ruling Gonzago aristocratic family. This particular work was on display for the first time in Italy, but the TPC's extensive online catalogue of Italian owned works of art and antiquities allowed officers to pinpoint the work immediately.

Some months earlier, the culture corps tracked down an important Titian: “Portrait of a Gentleman with a Black Cap” that had been missing since 2004 when it was smuggled to Switzerland.

In July 2022, the new Museum of Recovered Art and Antiquities was inaugurated in Rome's central Piazza della Repubblica with changing displays of exhibits of treasures that have been saved from tomb robbers and crooked dealers.

Info: Tel, 010.5955488 tpcgenu@carabinieri.it