Potential Caravaggio art buyers cry all way to the bank

A Caravaggio painting worth millions owned by a bankrupt Italian bank is to be sold to repay customers who lost their savings, but there’s a catch.

The Crowning with Thorns by Caravaggio exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2004.

A Caravaggio painting worth millions owned by a bankrupt Italian bank is to be sold to repay customers who lost their savings, but there’s a catch: the masterpiece cannot be moved from the bank’s office.

The Crowning with Thorns is one of more than 100 Italian works formerly owned by the Banca Popolare di Vicenza, which went bust in 2017 leading to a conviction for market rigging for the chairman and claims for compensation from 8000 account holders. A court ordered an asset sale to help settle their claims that includes the bank’s art collection, featuring works by Tiepolo, Bellini and Tintoretto, as well as by the 17th-century chiaroscuro master Caravaggio.

“The Crowning of Thorns could alone be worth more than €500m and the value of the entire collection, which contains some of Italy’s most renowned artists, is huge,” said Gloria Gatti, an art lawyer and contributor to Italian art publication Giornale dell’Arte.

Founded in 1866, the Banca Popolare di Vicenza built up its art collection as it bought out other banks in northeast Italy before collapsing five years ago.

The Caravaggio work showing a crown of thorns being placed on the head of Christ was authenticated in 2017 and shares the same title as another work by the artist on display in Vienna. It is one of 124 paintings housed in the bank’s former office in Prato, near Florence; others are on display in a museum in Vicenza.

But that is where they must stay, owing to a national heritage order that means wealthy purchasers will own paintings they cannot move. The liquidators are appealing against the order but if nothing changes it could result in a bargain price for a Caravaggio. “It is unlikely anyone will want to pay the market price if they cannot enjoy it,” Ms Gatti said.

She likened the sale to the auction last month of Villa Aurora in Rome, which boasts a ceiling painted by Caravaggio. Valued at €471m, the house drew no bidders, partly because the Caravaggio cannot be moved.

The Times