A painting by 15th century master Sandro Botticelli has been recovered at a home in Southern Italy. Believed to be worth €85 million, it was lost around 50 years ago, and since has been forgotten. Originally donated by the artist to Pope Sixtus IV, it was later housed in a church in the town of Santa Maria la Carità. Then, a local family was entrusted to keep it at their private residence for generations. After many thought it had been lost forever, the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage traced it to a property in Gragnano, near Naples. A depiction of Madonna and a child, the painting has deteriorated, with abrasions and chromatic alterations seen all over, and will now require major restoration. It will be entrusted to the care of an Institute of the Ministry of Culture specialised in the sector of restoration of works of art in order to start a study process and valorisation of the painting. Botticelli’s most famous works include ‘The Birth of Venus’ and ‘Primavera’, which are displayed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
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