Portrait of a Woman, long considered a copy of XVII century with the lost paintings of Raphael School, may be genuine creations of great masters of the Renaissance

Portrait of a Woman, with the 1970's was kept in the palace of the Dukes of Este in the Italian city of Sassuolo near Modena, in the opinion of experts, may be a genuine creation Raphael (Raphael).

a long time this painting was considered a copy of the XVII century with the lost picture of the school of Raphael. However, the art expert, Mario Scullin (Mario Scalini), who heads the directorate of the arts in the provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia, conducting an inventory of 20,000 items from the collection of the palace, saw the portrait and was struck by the fact that he wore a very elegant gilt frame XVII century . "It would be strange if in such an expensive frame put the product, the value of which is insignificant," - he said.

Scullin suggested that painting is an earlier version of the painting "The Holy Family" (or "Pearl" ) from the collection of the Prado, which after the death of Raphael in 1520, finished by his pupil Giulio Romano (Giulio Romano). Besides Scullin found in the old inventory records mention of the fact that the collection of the Palace of the Dukes of Este in Sassuolo a female portrait by Raphael. However, no documents, where it would be said that the portrait was sold or transferred to another place, could not be found. "Most likely, they simply forgot about it" - said Scullin.

to verify their version Scullin sent the portrait (size 30 to 40 centimeters) in a laboratory in Florence. Experts had a scan using ultraviolet and infrared radiation, and could see what was under the top layer of colorful. Leading Italian restorer Venerozi Pesholini Lisa (Lisa Venerosi Pesciolini), who worked with the portrait, said that in the XVII - XIX centuries on top of the original suffered new strokes to the picture more in line with the tastes of the time. This, in its view, supports the hypothesis Scullin. However, before they will make any specific conclusions, of course, it is necessary to conduct a more thorough investigation.

In the near future during a trip to Madrid Scullin plans to discuss with representatives of the Prado, the possibility of providing "the Holy Families "for research, experts were able to examine and compare the two works.

material prepared Ekaterina Guseva, AI

Sources: ansa.it , artdaily.com , artinvestment.ru