Rapallo – Painting stolen from Rapallo, found by the Udine police and returned to the owner. The theft dates back to 1988 and the military personnel from the cultural heritage protection unit made the recovery possible. The oil on canvas “Study and work” by Eugenio Prati (107 by 136 centimetres) is the second edition created by the Trentino artist between 1895 and 1896. A painting with a strong emotional impact, which depicts a young girl sitting on a flowery meadow with glimpses of the Trentino mountains behind her and It refers to a first performance by the author, with the same title, created in 1888 and set inside a house. In this work Prati chooses to represent a girl outdoors, intent on embroidering with a book resting on her knees and with her gaze fixed on her work.
The painting had been stolen from the home of a company manager in Rapallo. The heist had netted the thieves several works of art. At the time of reporting, the robbed person provided, in addition to the description, also the photograph of the paintings that had been stolen from him. An element that allowed the police to insert descriptions into the database of illicitly stolen goods. In April 2022, the soldiers of the data processing section of the operational department for the protection of Rome's cultural heritage, checking the works exhibited during public events, noticed the presence of the canvas Eugenio Prati within the “Pearls of art” exhibition, dedicated to painters from Trentino Alto Adige, set up at the Casa degli Artisti Giacomo Vittore in Tenno, in the province of Trento.
Recognizing the work as the proceeds of theft, the Carabinieri of the cultural heritage protection unit of Udine seized the oil on canvas from the owner, a gallery owner. Subsequent investigations allowed the military to trace the chain of passages and changes of owners, which covered the last thirty-six years, establishing that the work had been purchased by a gallery owner from Milan who, in turn, had bought it from another art dealer. The name by which the painting was known was different from the original: “Girl in the meadow”. And the initial responsibility for the theft has not been established. But this didn't stop the police from closing the story with a happy ending. The public prosecutor's office of Rovereto (Trento) made the request for dismissal to the judge for preliminary investigations who ordered the return of the painting. «The return of cultural assets to their legitimate owners – explain the military – is one of the priorities of the Carabinieri command for the protection of cultural heritage, allowing to maintain a philological link between the works and the places in which they were created, contributing to keeping alive the spirit of identity and culture of our country. Of fundamental importance, this time too, was the use of the database of illicitly stolen assets: information assets with over eight million documents relating to assets to be searched for. The largest industry database in the world.”
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