一幅失蹤28年的古畫物歸原主

In 1977, two London Art dealers bought a 13th-century “Madonna and Child” that they believed had been painted by an early-Renaissance master, Duccio di Buoninsegna. Ownership shares were divided among several partners, but in 1986, the work went missing from a vault in Geneva.

1977年，倫敦的兩位藝術品商人買下了13世紀畫作《聖母與聖嬰》(Madonna and Child)。他們認爲，這幅畫是文藝復興早期的繪畫大師杜喬·迪·博尼塞尼亞(Duccio di Buoninsegna)創作的。幾位合夥人共同享有這幅畫的所有權，但是1986年，這件作品從日內瓦的一個地下室裏失蹤。

Its location was unknown until January 2014 when Sotheby’s put the item up for auction in New York, identifying it as the work of a “Florentine painter within the ambit of Cimabue,” himself an important Italian master, according to a lawsuit filed by the federal authorities last year.

去年，聯邦當局的訴訟文件稱，直到2014年1月，這件作品纔在蘇富比拍賣行(Sotheby’s)的紐約拍賣會上現身，它被認爲是“奇馬布埃(Cimabue)身邊的一位佛羅倫薩畫家”創作的。奇馬布埃是一位重要的意大利繪畫大師。

The court papers said that the work had been stolen by one of the co-owners and that it had been spotted as being up for sale by the Art Recovery Group, a London investigative agency. Sotheby’s withdrew the painting from the auction, federal officials seized it, and the consignor and the heirs to the original owners went to court.

法庭文件稱，這件作品是被其中一位共同所有人偷走的，拍賣時被倫敦調查機構藝術品追回組織(Art Recovery Group)認出。蘇富比把這幅畫從拍賣會上撤下，聯邦官員將它查封，畫作寄售人和原主人的後裔們訴諸法庭。

On Tuesday, the parties agreed to a settlement in which they will receive the painting back and will divide any proceeds from an intended future sale, according to Christopher A. Marinello, head of the Art Recovery Group. As for the work’s attribution, Sotheby’s last year said the work “undoubtedly shares an affinity with models by Duccio di Buoninsegna” but estimated its value at $600,000 to $800,000. In 2004, the Metropolitan Museum of Art paid more than $45 million for a Duccio the size of a sheet of typing paper.

據藝術品追回組織的負責人克里斯托弗·A·馬裏內洛(Christopher A. Marinello)說，週二，各方同意和解，他們將收回畫作，共享未來拍賣的收益。至於這件作品的作者，去年蘇富比稱，它“無疑與杜喬·迪·博尼塞尼亞的典範之作非常接近”，不過估價在60萬至80萬美元之間。2004年，大都會藝術博物館(Metropolitan Museum of Art)花費4500多萬美元買下一幅打印紙大小的杜喬畫作。

Mr. Marinello said the owners’ belief in the Duccio attribution was supported by a 1984 report in Apollo magazine by Alastair Smart, a British fine arts professor who died in 1992. In the report, Mr. Smart said he thought that the work had been painted by the Italian master.

馬裏內洛說，所有者們相信這件作品爲杜喬之作是基於英國美術教授阿拉斯泰爾·斯馬特（Alastair Smart，1992年去世）1984年發表在《阿波羅》(Apollo)雜誌上的一篇報道。斯馬特在報道中說，他認爲這件作品是意大利繪畫大師杜喬之作。

“It’s rare to recover a work that has been missing so long,” said Leila A. Amineddoleh, the lawyer who negotiated the settlement with her colleague, David J. Galluzzo.

“追回一件失蹤如此之久的作品，實屬罕見，”律師萊拉·A·阿米尼多爾(Leila A. Amineddoleh)說。她和同事大衛·J·加盧佐(David J. Galluzzo)是和解談判的律師。