The Madonna and Child by Marco d’Oggiono, a Renaissance master and pupil of Leonardo Da Vinci, has been recovered and returned to its rightful owner thanks to the intervention of the Carabinieri of the Monza Cultural Heritage Protection Unit. The panel was stolen from the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan in the middle of the last century.
The investigation started in March 2021, when a Milanese art dealer turned to the Italian Art Crime division to determine its lawful provenance. The law enforcement agency immediately checked the presence of the painting in the database of illegally stolen cultural goods, the largest database of stolen works of art in the world.
The subsequent checks revealed that the painting was part of a testamentary bequest by a Milanese lady. The work was in the hands of her nephew, who had decided to sell it through an art dealer.
The result of the investigation is also the result of the cooperation between the Italian Episcopal Conference and the Ministry of Culture on the protection of the ecclesiastical cultural heritage, a collaboration that also characterizes the work of the local Superintendencies, the Diocesan offices for Cultural Heritage, and the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.
After a conservative restoration, the panel will finally return to the Milanese museum in 2022.
