Italian who says father left him Picasso works accused of fraud
Court will be told Marcello Santelia’s art dealer father was a friend of artist and obtained his paintings
PAINTINGS and drawings said to be previously unseen works by Picasso and worth more than £150million are at the centre of a bitter legal dispute over its authenticity.
An Italian businessman with links to the UK is being taken to court in Italy accused of trying to pass off fake works as genuine, in what could be one of the most sensational art fraud cases in years.
Prosecutors in Rome brought the charges against Marcello Santelia after he tried to obtain an export licence for the sale of one of the works.
Mr Santelia, 76, vigorously denies the accusations, maintaining that the 36 paintings and drawings are genuine Picassos which he inherited from his father Giovanni, an art dealer and friend of the artist.
Prosecutors at Rome’s central court, the Tribunale di Roma, will seek to prove that Mr Santelia committed fraud by knowingly trying to sell a fake work when the case opens tomorrow.
They launched their investigation into the authenticity of the collection
‘My client is accused of falsifying the work of Picasso, but we have proof they are real’
after he tried to sell one of the pieces, a portrait of Picasso’s lover and muse Dora Maar with the title Dora Maar con cappello (“with hat”).
If genuine, such a painting by Picasso would be expected to fetch several million pounds at auction. Questions were raised over its provenance and authenticity after Mr Santelia applied to the Italian authorities for an export licence to take it out of the country for auction in London.
Mr Santelia, who ran a construction company in Worcester before moving back to his native Italy, will call expert witnesses in his defence to testify as to the authenticity of the works, which are said to have been produced by Picasso between 1943 and 1956.
It is understood the Picasso Administration, the Paris-based body which holds the rights to all of the artist’s work, will give evidence for the prosecution.
Salvatore Nocera, Mr Santelia’s solicitor, told The Telegraph: “My client is accused of falsifying the work of Picasso, but we have proof that these works are real.
“They are 36 drawings, prints and oil paintings that Marcello Santelia inherited from his father Giovanni, who was an art dealer who knew Picasso. Giovanni Santelia received the pieces from Picasso himself.”
Mr Nocera said evidence will show that the works have been authenticated after being scientifically examined by experts.
One of them will be Prof Alberto Bravo, an Italian expert in graphology and handwriting who is expected to testify as to the authenticity of the Picasso signatures on the works.
Mr Santelia was the director of Worcester-based building firm Radnage Construction from 2014 until the firm was dissolved three years later. He now lives in the southern Italian town of Nocera Inferiore.
It is understood his father is said to have brought the works back to the family home in Nocera Inferiore after buying them from Picasso at some point during the 1950s.
The diary of one English traveller, Pete Smith, records a visit Giovanni Santelia paid to Picasso’s home in Mougins, south east France, during Christmas 1955.
On Dec 13 that year, Smith wrote in his diary: “Roger’s to collect Santelia Giovanni en-route to meeting Pablo [Picasso] in Mougins for Christmas.” The following day he recorded that Picasso gave his guests some of his work, writing: “Arrive Mougins with Roger, Santelia Giovanni and Pablo. As always he has pictures for all of us to take home.”
Frederick Mulder, a London-based art dealer who specialises in Picasso prints, said: “If these works are indeed authentic Picassos they would be of great significance for admirers and collectors everywhere.”