A portray that for brief whereas was known as a misplaced Caravaggio is now on the middle of a significant fraud investigation in Spain.
The paintings, Ecce Homo with Two Executioners, was offered by Herennia Trillo, a Spanish artwork vendor, for almost $300,000 in early 2023. However, in response to the Spanish new outlet El Confidencial, consultants from Madrid’s Prado Museum studied the work and shortly stripped the image of its illustrious attribution.
The case is reported to have concerned cast paperwork, a supposed Uffizi professional, and a gallerist accused of serving to launder the proceeds. Spanish authorities at the moment are investigating Trillo. She might have collaborated with Sara Muñoz, who allegedly posed as a Caravaggio professional from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and Madrid vendor David Badía, who’s suspected of issuing false invoices to obscure Trillo’s positive aspects.
El Confidencial broke the story on Thursday. On X, the publication posted an image of the Ecce Homo with Two Executioners, that includes a grim-looking, sallow-faced man who seems to be carrying a thorny crown and holding a skinny piece of wooden, alongside a headshot of Trillo.
Bought in December 2022 for simply €16,939, the portray was resold in February 2023 for €275,000 ($297,000). The customer was led to consider they had been securing a long-lost work by the Italian Baroque grasp, however when unbiased verification was requested, Trillo refused. As an alternative, she dangled various attributions, together with to the French Caravaggisti painter Valentin de Boulogne.
By summer time 2023, Prado consultants had been on the case. They discovered that the portray belonged to the broader Italian Baroque custom however had nothing to do with Caravaggio. As an alternative, they attributed it to an nameless artist from the varsity of Annibale Carracci—Caravaggio’s stylistic rival, recognized for a extra idealized method to portray. With that, the work’s estimated worth plummeted from almost $300,000 to a mere $22,000.
In accordance with El Confidencial, Trillo pressured the customer into making a hasty buy, claiming different buyers had been circling. As soon as the cash modified arms, she allegedly refused additional authentication and later tried to ship the portray to herself in Switzerland reasonably than hand it over to the defrauded purchaser. That transfer prompted a proper criticism, main the Spanish Civil Guard to raid Trillo’s house final June and seize the portray. Trillo has since denied any wrongdoing.
Authenticated Caravaggios are likely to promote for much larger sums. Simply final 12 months, one other Ecce Homo—which the Prado helped authenticate as a real Caravaggio—offered for $39 million, a meteoric rise from its preliminary public sale estimate of $1,780.
