Sgarbi in Genoa: “The seized Rubens is not beautiful, I would say… nice” – Primocanale.it
GENOA – An extremely accurate visit by the undersecretary for culture Vittorio Sgarbi at the “Rubens in Genoa” exhibition, with a face-to-face meeting with the seized work that has so agitated the news in recent weeks. The “risen Christ appears to his mother” ended up on the national front pages and also aroused the interest of international critics. Today the well-known art historian was able to visit the exhibition and the work under investigation in person, first removed and then returned to the display through the ploy of a window through which visitors can admire the painting attributed to Rubens and shop until February 5th.
According to Sgarbi, the work itself does not have great artistic value “I called him likeable, not beautiful. A bit as if he were a woman”, he comments with his usual verve. The choice of the curators of the exhibition Anna Orlando and Nils Büttner, president of the Rubenianum institute in Antwerp, had been to place it in a room file at the end of the exhibition, precisely because of its peculiarity: during an x-ray of the painting, a second figure of Mary resurfaced and during the restoration it was decided to keep both Virgins which scholars, after careful analyses, both attribute to the hand of the Flemish master, while the Christ would have been made by collaborators. An interesting story revealed to the public in a Sala del Maggior Consiglio packed with curious and enthusiasts. The undersecretary also points the finger at the investigations, which he says are unfounded.
“No one can claim to have lost this painting simply because it wasn’t there before, Rubens was only declared later: this work is a Rubens and workshop, which I would not buy anyway”
The case is complex and concerns all the transfers of ownership of the painting which was previously owned by a noble Genoese family, Cambiaso, who then allegedly sold it for 350 thousand euros to the two collectors of the four suspects, who are accused of having illegally exported the work to abroad, creating fictitious companies and trying to have it devalued as a ‘Flemish school’ in order to then be able to resell it outside the Italian border. According to the investigators, the attribution to Rubens was known but an attempt was made to conceal this aspect through false documents. However, there is the whole theme that for important artists such as Rubens it is necessary that an attribution be made by internationally recognized scholars. “The crime does not exist for me, this first work was not a Rubens and declaring it to be of the Flemish school is not wrong. Giotto is also of the Tuscan school”, says Sgarbi on the sidelines of the conference at Palazzo Ducale. “We will analyze the papers of the magistrates”, commenting even going so far as to say that “the ministry could present itself as a civil party in favor of that private individual who for me is the owner”.
“Also because I share the arguments of one of the four involved who commented if I wanted to steal it I didn’t take it to Palazzo Ducale on display”
Only the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Genoa will be able to shed light on the matter, even if it is plausible that the painting will remain in Italy, whether it is the property of the collector who lent it for exhibition or whether it is returned to the State. Mom Sgarbi believes that Genoa already has a Rubens of extraordinary value.
“The greatest heritage of Liguria is that painting by Rubens in the Church of Jesus, “The Circumcision”, which alone is worth all of Rubens’ work and which will be restored thanks to the Region precisely in this 2023″