«Well? These individuals who they persecute me they are pathetic. What do they think they prove? The fact that the canvas is from the seventeenth century does not mean that the painting is also from the seventeenth century. Do you know how many works have been painted on recycled canvases? Everyone hopes to find a Leonardo or a Caravaggio at the flea market or in the attic. It almost never happens. The c… blow exists, but it’s not this.” Vittorio Sgarbi is not at all worried by the intricate story of the alleged man Valentin de BoulogneFrench Caravaggist: The Concert with drinker (if it were true, it would be worth 5.5 million euros).
According to the Imperia prosecutor’s office – news anticipated by Everyday occurrence and from Reports — in 2020 the work would have been illicitly exported in the Principality of Monaco by the art critic, considered the true owner of the painting (and brought up in some interceptions), by his girlfriend Sabrina Colle (who in a conversation on Whatsapp confides: «We hope to sell the painting, otherwise we are ruined») and by the contractor Gianni Filippini.
The investigation has now been closed. Among the documents there is an x-ray, attached to the technical report of the Central Institute for Restoration, which would demonstrate that the work is from the 17th century. And it could just be the lost original.
The former undersecretary for Culture, now candidate for the European elections with FdI, says that «it will end in nothing this time too, for years I have victim of these torturers. But do you think we are relying on an x-ray that proves nothing? It’s not like if I x-ray a Fontana the test establishes that it’s from him.”
According to Sgarbi, it would have been more serious to resort to “the evaluation of an art expert”. He reiterates that it is a copy. «One was just sold at auction by Wannenes for 3,500 euros». The painting under investigation instead «was cnot bought by mebut from one of mine old friend for 10 thousand euros. Illegal export is triggered when the value exceeds 13,500. He asked me to appraise it and I never did, what they indicate as my appraisal is a technical sheet sent by the secretariat. Also at the end the painting it was not sold, So what are we talking about?”.
