The signature on the painting discovered by Luigi Lo Rosso, a junk dealer in Pompeii, has been confirmed as authentic. Lo Rosso had never imagined he possessed a treasure until recently. The authenticity of the 'Portrait of Dora Maar' was confirmed in early September by graphologist Cinzia Altieri, a consultant at the Milan court, but the news only became public in the last few days.
In 1962, while clearing out a villa cellar in Capri, Lo Rosso found a rolled-up canvas depicting a woman's disheveled face. Although the signature 'Picasso' was visible, it meant nothing to the then 24-year-old Lo Rosso, who took the canvas home and hung it in his living room. For 50 years, the painting, nicknamed 'the gouge' due to its asymmetrical shapes, remained in the family's living room.
It wasn't until the early 2000s that Lo Rosso's eldest son noticed the resemblance between the painting and Picasso's works in his schoolbooks, suggesting it could be an original. Initially dismissed, the family eventually paid for expertise, leading to an unexpected confirmation. The painting, created between the 1940s and 1950s, could be a portrait of French poetess Dora Maar, Picasso's companion for nine years.
The painting was seized, allegedly stolen, and later returned. However, the Picasso Foundation in Paris, run by the painter's sons, refuses to consider it. Lo Rosso then turned to the Arcadia Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to enhancing artistic heritage. President Luca Gentile Canal Marcante assembled a team of specialists, confirming the work's originality and the signature's authenticity by Altieri.
The painting, currently kept in a Milan vault by Luigi's sons, is valued at six million euros. Recognition by the Picasso Foundation could raise its value to up to 12 million euros. However, the Lo Rosso family has no plans to sell. 'That painting is a piece of the Lo Rosso family of Pompeii and is not for sale. We are only looking for an evaluation, but we are not selling it, because that was my father's will, who is no longer with us,' says Andrea Lo Rosso, expressing satisfaction and happiness with the recent recognition.
