15th Century Illuminated Manuscript

Stolen 15th Century Illuminated Manuscript Returned to Italy after 33 Years

Art Recovery International is pleased to announce another recovery of stolen art for the Republic of Italy. This 15th Century illuminated manuscript is one of 74 pages cut from the Breviary of Ludovico da Ramagnano and stolen in 1990 from the Capitular Archive in Torino, Italy.  At the time, a criminal investigation in Italy resulted in the arrest of two individuals, Pier Luigi Cimma and Franca Gatto for the thefts and for dealing in stolen property.  However, many of the stolen artworks had already been sold through dealers and auction houses around the world. 

This particular manuscript is similar to another page recovered by Art Recovery International in 2021 (https://www.artrecovery.com/illuminatedmanuscript-1-1). Both artworks had been sold through Sotheby’s London in 1993 in what clearly was a lapse in due diligence research.

The manuscript resurfaced in April of 2023 when the collector, who purchased the manuscript at the Sotheby’s sale, re-offered the work for sale through another US auction house.

In what is now our quickest recovery ever (7 days, eclipsing our 15-day previous record (https://www.artrecovery.com/frantiek-drtikol), Christopher A. Marinello, negotiated an unconditional surrender of the stolen artwork to the Republic of Italy. 

It is important to note that no “finder’s fees” were paid to the good faith collector to release the stolen object.  Some self-proclaimed “Cultural Heritage lawyers” demand payments for their clients to “do the right thing” and take a percentage of these payments as their fee. It is our position that making such demands is hypocritical to the cause of Cultural Heritage repatriation and damaging to the countless other pending cases we are involved in.  By giving into the demand for finder’s fees, every collector who possesses stolen or looted works of art will be looking for a pay-out regardless of the circumstances.

The stolen manuscript was returned today to the Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC) at the Italian Embassy in London and will shortly be returned to the archive in Torino.