Painting Thought to Be Picasso Original Found in Basement by Junk Dealer Could Be Worth Millions, Experts Say
The painting was discovered in a Capri basement over 60 years ago by an Italian pawn shop owner
A painting thought to be a Picasso original was found over 60 years ago by a junk dealer in the basement of a villa on the island of Capri, Italy
Italian art experts think the painting could potentially be worth millions
"There is no doubt that the signature is his. There was no evidence suggesting that it was false," Cinzia Altieri of the Arcadia Foundation said, per The Guardian
Italian art experts think they've come across an original portrait by Pablo Picasso that could be worth millions, more than 60 years after it was discovered by a Pompeii pawn-shop owner.
The painting in question — which is thought to be a portrait of French photographer and poet Dora Maar, who was Picasso's lover — was found by junk dealer Luigi Lo Rosso in 1962 in the basement of a villa in Capri, CNN reported.
The asymmetrical picture, featuring Picasso's trademark scribble, is of a woman with brown hair wearing a blue dress and red lipstick.
Not thinking too much of it when he found it at the time, Luigi's son, Andrea Lo Rosso, told CNN that his father put the painting in a cheap frame and gifted it to his wife.
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Instead of selling it, she hung it up in the family home for five decades before later putting it in their restaurant, because she reportedly didn't think it was nice enough to sell.
“When Mom hung it on the wall to decorate the house, renaming it 'The Scribble' due to the strangeness of the woman’s face depicted, I wasn’t even born yet,” Andrea told the outlet.
“From Dad’s stories, I know that there were two canvases recovered from the Capri dump site. However, only one was signed by Picasso," he added. "Both were covered with earth and lime and my mother spread them out and washed them with detergent, as if they were carpets."'
Dr. Cinzia Altieri — who is a certified forensic graphologist and member of the scientific committee of the Arcadia Foundation — valued the painting at around $6.6 million, per The Guardian.
“After all the other examinations of the painting were done, I was given [the] job of studying the signature,” Altieri said. “I worked on it for months, comparing it with some of his original works. There is no doubt that the signature is his. There was no evidence suggesting that it was false."
The Arcadia Foundation didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE.
Andrea, whose father has since died, told The Guardian that his mother "didn’t want to keep" the painting and "kept saying it was horrible."
“My father was from Capri and would collect junk to sell for next to nothing,” he told the paper.
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“He found the painting before I was even born and didn’t have a clue who Picasso was. He wasn’t a very cultured person," Andrea continued. "While reading about Picasso’s works in the encyclopedia I would look up at the painting and compare it to his signature. I kept telling my father it was similar, but he didn’t understand. But as I grew up, I kept wondering."
The artwork has similarities to Picasso's '30s painting Buste de femme (Dora Maar), and president of the Arcadia Foundation, Luca Marcante, told Italian newspaper Il Giorno that they could "both be an original" of the mistress.
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“They are probably two portraits, not exactly the same, of the same subject painted by Picasso at two different times. One thing is for sure: The one found in Capri and now kept in a vault in Milan is authentic," Marcante added, per the outlet.
Picasso, who died in 1973 at age 91, was thought to have frequently visited the island of Capri.
Per The Guardian, Andrea insisted the family isn't "interested in making money" out of the painting, but is reportedly interested in bringing it to the attention of the Picasso Foundation, despite the Málaga, Spain-based office previously not believing it to be an original.
The Picasso Foundation didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE.
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