by The claims of a businessman to have left real Pablo Picasso master works by his father was rejected by an Italian judge.
The Roman judge Francesco Patrone threw claims by Marcello Santelia, a businessman from left to Great Britain, that he had inherited 51 authentic works of art by Picasso.
Instead, judge Patrone declared the work as counterfeits and sentenced the 78-year-old to a suspended prison sentence of one year and eight months because he had tried to give it up as real. He still has to hand over a written decision in which he declares his decision.
But Mr. Santelia, who told the court that he always believed that the works were real, said he had to make an appeal against the decision.
“I’m not a criminal”
Mr. Santelia, flanked by his two lawyers in front of the courtroom, said he was determined to clarify his name and defend the authenticity of his art collection.
“I am not a criminal,” said Santelia, a silver -haired grandfather from the small Mediterranean city of Nocera Inferiore, who headed a business in Great Britain for several years.
His lawyer, Giuseppe Spagnuolo, said that of the 51 works that were confiscated by the Italian art police, only one was considered as a potential connection to Picasso by the court. He said that was unacceptable.
“We are convinced of the authenticity of the works and will continue an appointment,” said Spagnuolo before the court. “The judge applied for a penalty of one year and eight months. He has eight days to submit his argument to the court and we will make an appeal.”
Mr. Santelia, who headed a construction company in Worcester before returning to his homeland of Italy, always claimed that his father Giovanni, an art collector, was a friend of Picasso and received the painting and drawings of the Spanish painter in the 1950s.
Mr. Santelia has always insisted that it was all real Picasso, possibly millions of pounds, and has fought for his claims to be recognized by the Italian government so that he could sell it abroad.
But the Italian police and the public prosecutor have long argued that the collection is fake. The paintings and drawings were confiscated by the Italian police when Mr. Santelia tried to sell one of them, supposedly a portrait of Picasso’s lover and Muse Dora Maar entitled “Dora Maar Con Cappello [with hat]”, To a buyer in Dubai a few years ago.
In the last court hearing on Monday, Mr. Spagnuolo said that the prosecutor had applied for a more severe prison sentence and a fine of 4,000 euros and argued that the work was fake.
Four art experts have been instructed by the court to examine Pablo Picasso’s signature to determine whether the works of art that were produced between 1943 and 1956, which were known as the artist’s Mediterranean, were counterfeits.
The experts are said to have included the Picasso administration, the corporation based in Paris, which holds the rights to all the artists’ work, but neither their opinions nor their identity were made publicly available.
An expert named by Mr. Santelia’s legal team says that he has no doubt that the paintings are real Picasso.
Alberto Bravo, Professor of Graphology and Handwriting based in Rome, told the Telegraph that the signature is important in this case, the style of the 16 paintings he saw without a doubt that they come from the Spanish artist.
Professor Bravo claims that the experts appointed by the court are inappropriate in this case.
“It’s not just about the signature, but about his expressive style (Picassos),” said Professor Bravo. “Review is a very complex process and was not carried out properly because there was a guess (from the court) that they were wrong. They can impossible to be fake. He inherited his father’s paintings.”
Mr. Santelia said he wanted to get his paintings back and to recover the large amount of money he had to spend on expert reviews of the works of art.
The works of art are currently kept in a warehouse in Rome by the Italian Carabinieri Arts Police.
Diary suggests that father visited Picasso
Mr. Santelia’s father Giovanni, an art dealer, is said to have brought the works back to the family house in Nocera Inferiore after bought them from Picasso at some point in the 1950s.
The diary of an English traveler, Pete Smith, draws a visit from Giovanni Santelia on Picasso’s house in Mougins, France for Christmas 1955.
On December 13th this year, Mr. Smith wrote in his diary: “Roger’s to collect Santelia Giovanni En-Route to meet Pablo [Picasso] In Mougins for Christmas. “
The next day he started that Picasso gave his guests some of his work and wrote: “Arrival with Roger, Santelia Giovanni and Pablo. As always, he has pictures that we can all take home with us.”
The most expensive Picasso painting that was ever sold at the auction is Les Femmes d’Alger (version ‘O’) (1955), which in 2015 achieved a record of £ 143 million.
