Recognize from some details two statues of the seventeenth century that seemed lost. And return them, in this way, so that they can return to public use. A beautiful story that comes from GenoVa. The Municipality recently acquired a pair of marble busts that will return to the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata del Vastato. The two busts are part of a marble complex of the church. The Lavarello family returned them. The marbles depict the Gentile couple. The baroque sculptor Daniele Solaro (1649-1709) created them. They therefore date back to the period of Barocco. They had been lost during the bombing of the Second World War. Today the discovery of the two seventeenth-century busts and their restitution.
The busts of the seventeenth century discovered by chance
And behind the discovery of the two seventeenth-century busts there is a chance. The lost portraits of Tommaso Gentile and Ginetta Pinelli discovered by a young art historian, who, called to check them, discovered a certain similarity with the works of Solaro. On the occasion of a hereditary division, he involved the art historian Gabriele Langosco for an expert opinion on a collection of works. "They are two sculptures that were commissioned by the grandchildren several years after the death of their grandparents to decorate the chapel - clarifies Langosco - These are two very precious busts, important pieces for Genoese Baroque art. They had been documented through some photos in 1922 and published in an article on Genoese sculpture. We thought they had been lost during the bombing but thanks to the photographs I was able to recognize them".
The authorities and in particular the Nucleus for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of the Carabinieri and the Public Prosecutor of Genoa are also interested in starting the procedures for returning the works.
The original location of the two busts
The marble portraits of the spouses are part of the Gentile chapel of the Annunziata del Vastato. They will be placed after seventy years next to the altarpiece by Domenico Piola, who will return to Genoa after the exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale, in Rome. "We intervened after the assets had been traced - explained Carlo Ferro Deputy Commander of the Carabinieri Cultural Nucleus - we have reconstructed the passages of these assets to be sure that they were precisely the ones that adorned the chapel. We checked that there were no recent criminal liabilities, which did not appear, and we checked the legal validity of the donation".
A great enrichment for the city and its heritage. A great work started in synergy and which will allow after many years to see the two busts in their original location.
The article that allowed for recognition
To arrive at the discovery, as the art historian himself said, it is useful to compare it with an image taken from an article on Daniele Solaro signed by Mario Labò, and published in the Rassegna d'Arte Antica e Moderna magazine. Then the war and the bombing, but the two busts survived the collapse. It is not clear what their fate was: whether they were sold to finance the reconstruction of the chapel. Or stolen and then used in some antique market. And finally in a private collection. And there the rediscovery and now the return to the Municipality.
Source photo image in evidence, Facebook page Genovamorethanthis
