The Carabinieri for the Protection of Cultural Heritage have seized the work of art ‘The risen Christ appears to the Mother’, exhibited for the ‘Rubens in Genoa’ exhibition set up in Palazzo Ducale and insured for the value of 4 million euros. The oil painting on canvas, measuring 184×150 cm, is attributed to the artist Peter Paul Rubens and his workshop. The hypothesized crimes are those of illicit export and money laundering.
The Arma, during a complex investigation coordinated by the Prosecutor of the Republic of Genoa, carried out the provision today. The investigators have ascertained that the precious cultural asset comes from the collection of a noble Genoese family, which kept it in the historic family building subjected to restrictions since the early twentieth century, belonging to the ancient Rolli system.
The work had then been handed over to the current suspects, who had exported it using a Certificate of Free Circulation, issued by the Pisa Export Office, obtained through false declarations and omissions. Furthermore, the suspects concealed the fictitious sale of the work using companies specifically created abroad, hindering its identification. The important work of art is characterized by an exceptional peculiarity: a third figure is visible between the Madonna and Christ and it is probably an earlier creation, an ‘afterthought’ that Rubens had decided not to keep in the work definitive.