A family in Italy hopes to prove that a painting found long ago on the island of Capri is the work of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.
The family has been gathering scientific evidence to support the claim. It wants officials of the Picasso estate to confirm Picasso as the painting's creator.
A man found the painting in a load of waste he took possession of as a junk dealer more than 60 years ago. He hung the picture in his home for a long time. Later, it hung in a restaurant in Pompei, Italy.
Then the man's son, Andrea Lo Russo, began to investigate the painting that, he said, his mother described as “ugly.”
He said he first came to think the painting was important after seeing a picture of a Picasso painting in a schoolbook. Later, as a young adult, Lo Russo and his brother took the painting to Paris. They showed it to experts at the Picasso Museum there.
“They looked, and they said, ‘it is not possible,'” Lo Russo remembered. The brothers refused the museum's offer to keep the painting for further study, he said.
Lo Russo said that his research into the painting's origin sometimes connected him with dishonest people. He said some people tricked him for money. One situation led officials to investigate him as a possible trafficker of false artwork.
That investigation ended after he produced paperwork confirming his effort to identify the family's painting.
After more than 20 years of trying, Lo Russo believes that recent tests carried out by the Swiss-based Arcadia Foundation prove that his painting is from Picasso.
Luca Marcante is a trained chemist who started the Arcadia Foundation in 2000 to investigate artwork. Marcante said laboratory tests show the paints used were like those Picasso used in one period of his career.
Most recently, a handwriting expert confirmed that the name written in the upper left corner of the painting is Picasso's handwriting, Marcante said.
For the art world, however, only one group can authenticate the painting as Picasso's work: the Picasso Administration in Paris. But, it has not answered a series of requests over the years.
Marcante said that he is preparing to share the most recent findings with them. He explains it this way: “You need to understand, they get dozens of inquiries every day from private people believing they have found a Picasso.”
The Picasso Administration chose not to speak to the Associated Press about the painting.
Tete du femme
Marcante said the painting is similar to Tete du femme, a 1949 painting that is believed to be a Picasso. It is part of a digital collection overseen by Sam Houston State University in Texas.
Adding to the mystery, Marcante said there is photographic evidence that Picasso visited the ruins of Pompeii in 1917. Marcante also said it is likely the artist visited Capri in the 1940s.
But expert Enrique Mallen doubts the painting is really Picasso's work. He said, “From what I know of studying Picasso for 30 years, he would never do an identical copy of his own work.”
The only record of Tete du femme is documentation from a 1967 book, which said the painting was in a private collection in Turin, Italy. Mallen said there is no other evidence of the painting.
Marcante called Tete du femme “a ghost painting, because no one has ever seen it.” He added, “The only real one is ours, that we have examined in a scientific manner...”
Lo Russo said that his family has not decided what to do with the painting if it is confirmed as a Picasso. Many people are asking about it now since news about the painting spread in recent weeks.
“We are confused ourselves,” he said.
意大利的一個(gè)家庭希望證明很久以前在卡普里島發(fā)現(xiàn)的一幅畫是西班牙藝術(shù)家巴勃羅·畢加索的作品。
這家人一直在收集科學(xué)證據(jù)來支持這一說法。它希望畢加索遺產(chǎn)管理人員確認(rèn)畢加索是這幅畫的創(chuàng)作者。
60多年前，一名男子在一堆廢品中發(fā)現(xiàn)了這幅畫。他把這幅畫掛在家里很長時(shí)間。后來，它被掛在意大利龐貝的一家餐館里。
然后，這名男子的兒子安德里亞·羅·魯索（Andrea Lo Russo）開始調(diào)查這幅畫，他說，他的母親形容這幅畫“丑陋”。
他說，他第一次想到這幅畫很重要是在教科書上看到畢加索的畫。后來，作為一個(gè)年輕的成年人，羅索和他的兄弟把這幅畫帶到巴黎。他們把這幅畫拿給那里的畢加索博物館的專家看。
“他們看了看，然后說，‘這不可能，’”羅·魯索回憶道。他說，兄弟倆拒絕了博物館保留這幅畫以作進(jìn)一步研究的提議。
羅·魯索說，他對這幅畫的起源進(jìn)行的研究有時(shí)讓他與不誠實(shí)的人產(chǎn)生了聯(lián)系。他說有些人為了錢欺騙了他。有一次甚至導(dǎo)致官員調(diào)查他是否可能是販賣假藝術(shù)品的嫌疑人。
那次調(diào)查在他提供了確認(rèn)他努力鑒定家族藏畫的文件后結(jié)束。
經(jīng)過二十多年的努力，羅·魯索相信，瑞士Arcadia基金會(huì)最近進(jìn)行的測試證明了他的畫作確實(shí)出自畢加索。
盧卡·馬坎特是一位訓(xùn)練有素的化學(xué)家，他于2000年創(chuàng)立了Arcadia基金會(huì)，專門研究藝術(shù)品。馬坎特說，實(shí)驗(yàn)室測試表明，所使用的顏料與畢加索在其職業(yè)生涯的一個(gè)時(shí)期使用的顏料相似。
最近，一位筆跡專家證實(shí)，畫左上角的名字是畢加索的筆跡，馬坎特說。
然而，對于藝術(shù)界來說，只有一個(gè)團(tuán)體可以證明這幅畫是畢加索的作品，那就是巴黎的畢加索管理局。但是，多年來，它一直沒有回應(yīng)一系列的要求。
馬坎特說，他正準(zhǔn)備與他們分享最新的發(fā)現(xiàn)。他這樣解釋：“你需要理解，他們每天都會(huì)收到數(shù)十個(gè)來自私人人士的咨詢，這些人都認(rèn)為自己找到了一幅畢加索的作品。”
畢加索管理機(jī)構(gòu)選擇不對美聯(lián)社就這幅畫發(fā)表評論。
馬坎特說，這幅畫與1949年的一幅被認(rèn)為是畢加索的畫作《女人的Tete du femme》相似。它是由德克薩斯州薩姆休斯頓州立大學(xué)監(jiān)督的數(shù)字收藏的一部分。
馬坎特說，有照片證明畢加索曾在1917年參觀過龐貝遺址，這更增添了神秘感。馬坎特還說，畫家很可能在20世紀(jì)40年代訪問過卡普里島。
但是，專家恩里克·馬倫懷疑這幅畫真的是畢加索的作品。他說：“根據(jù)我研究畢加索30年的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，他絕不會(huì)制作自己作品的完全相同的復(fù)制品?！?br>《女子頭像》（Tête de femme）唯一的記錄是1967年一本書中的記載，該書稱這幅畫當(dāng)時(shí)收藏在意大利都靈的一個(gè)私人收藏中。馬倫表示，除此之外沒有其他關(guān)于這幅畫的證據(jù)。
馬坎特將《女子頭像》稱為“幽靈畫作，因?yàn)閺膩頉]有人見過它?！彼a(bǔ)充道：“唯一真實(shí)的一幅就是我們擁有的，我們已經(jīng)以科學(xué)的方式對其進(jìn)行了檢查……”
洛魯索說，如果這幅畫被證實(shí)為畢加索的作品，他的家族還沒有決定如何處理它。自從幾周前有關(guān)這幅畫的消息傳開以來，現(xiàn)在有很多人在詢問這幅畫。
“我們自己也很困惑，”他說。
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