It's amazing what you can miss when you don't go to the office every day…
For example, the workers of an Italian museum that was temporarily closed due to the Covid-19, did not notice that one of the most valuable pieces from their collection, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi which is 500 years old, has disappeared.
Fortunately for the staff of the San Domenico Maggioe Museum in Naples, a copy of the most expensive painting in the world has now been returned, at least that is what CNN reports. Not only that, the police arrested the owner of the apartment where the work of art was found.
This reproduction from the 16th century, which was most likely painted by one of Leonardo's students, was returned after a search of an apartment in an Italian city last Saturday. Shortly after this discovery, the now unnamed thirty-six-year-old owner of the apartment was arrested, on suspicion of accepting stolen goods.
"The painting was found on Saturday, thanks to a brilliant and persistent police operation," said the Neapolitan prosecutor, Giovanni Melillo. He added that the painting was never reported missing by the museum, largely due to the fact that the gallery in which the painting was normally located had been closed for the past three months.
By the way, this painting became the most expensive in the world when it was sold at a price of 450.3 million dollars four years ago, and since its sale it has not been in seen in public, which has led to doubts about its authenticity and the identity of the new owner.
This copy of the Salvator Mundi painting is believed to have been created during the life of the famous master, by the hands of his students and helpers. Although it is not known who painted this version, it is written on the museum's website that it was most likely created as a work by Girolamo Alibrandi.
