The painting in question is a portrait of Isabella d'Este and has been attributed by some art experts as having been painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. It turned up in a Swiss bank vault in 2013 along with hundreds of other art pieces.
The current owner of the painting was attempting to sell it when the Italian Police had it seized with the cooperation of Swiss officials.
The reason? The painting was "illegally exported" and needed to be secured before it was sold.
The assertion by Italian authorities that the painting was illegally exported seems to be extremely dubious. The painting was lost for 400 years. Nobody knew where it was until it turned up in Switzerland. There is no way for the Italian authorities to know when it was exported. The painting could very well have left Italy in the 17th century.
There is no official record of this painting. What proof could they possibly have that it was "illegally exported"?
They can't even prove it was ever in Italy.
Then there's this gem:
“Once it arrives back in Italy, we will conduct further investigations to establish who really owns the work,” Italian prosecutors said in a statement.
Unless we are dealing with a painting that has been stolen, I think it's fairly clear who owns it. That would be the person from which the Italian authorities seized it.
This case does point out some of the problematic art laws that exist in some countries.
The owner of a work of art can't treat it as their property. It is instead treated as public property and can be confiscated if the owner attempts to export it.
And it's not just Italy. This is true of any member of the Euro Union or signatories to 1970 UNESCO convention.
One big problem I have with these laws/treaty is that they are applied to works that predate them. Countries are using them to confiscate art that was exported from their countries before the laws went into effect.
There is something about that behavior that strikes me as just plain wrong.
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