Lost Picasso painting found in a basement in Italy

In the top left was a signature, Picasso, but that meant nothing to its discoverer, junk dealer Luigi Lo Rosso, who took it home and hung it on his wall.

Son Andrea Lo Rosso told Il Giorno: "My first memory of the painting is when my mother hung it on the wall at home, dubbing it 'the scribble' because of the strangeness of the lady's face.

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"I wasn't even born yet, I know from my father's stories that he only got two paintings from the Capri cellar, but only one was a signed Picasso...

"Both were covered with dirt and lime so my mother put them on the ground and cleaned them with detergent like they were carpets - what a risk!

"My parents were simple people, they didn't know anything about art.

Andrea Lo Rosso's parents with the Picasso painting on the wall (Image: Il Giorno)

"In the 1980s they had a restaurant in Pompeii and to brighten up the garden dad displayed it out there until a painter from Rome suggested he move it in case someone stole it.

"When I was still a kid I saw an identical portrait in an encyclopedia called the Buste de femme Dora Maar.

"Clearly, the one we had was only a copy... but as I grew up I did some research and consulted with various experts who told me to get it verified because, after all, the painter spent many holidays in Capri in the 50s."

One of those was the art historian and critic Vittorio Sgarbi.

Mr Lo Rosso says: "I spent a whole day with him and at the end of it he pushed me to continue my research, because no-one could say in black and white that it was a fake.

"He also warned me that I'd encounter no shortage of problems and he was quite right.

"The painting was seized by the carabinieri (state police) on the ridiculous charge of receiving stolen goods.

"Above all though, in Paris they wouldn't even give me the time of day. I went to the (Picasso) museum in person with the artwork in the back of my car: they told me to stay outside and wait. Can you imagine? I went home with the painting."

Perhaps one reason for their recalcitrance is the fact that a Buste de femme Maar already exists in the Picasso collection - indeed, it sold for more than $22m at action in 2016.

According to art researcher Luca Gentile Canal Marcante though: "They can both be originals.

"They are probably two portraits, not exactly identical, of the same subject painted by Picasso at two different times.

"I'm sure of one thing: the one found in Capri and now kept in a vault in Milan is authentic."

His certainty comes not just from his own expertise, but that of a range of experts.

The graphologist Cinzia Altieri compared the signature to others by Picasso and found it to be a match, the chemical-scientific analyst of artworks Maurizio Seracini verified its age.

Ms Altieri, who has examined works by Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dalì and Lucio Fontana said: "It's a very dense oil painting which, in the signature, has the same characteristics of other autographs by Picasso."

More verifications came from Paolo Cornale of the CSG Palladio chemical lab, Davide Bussolari of the Diagnostica per l’Arte Fabbri and Franca Vitelli of the Vitelli Law Firm.

He will now seek to have it verified by the Picasso Foundation, before putting it up for auction.

Mr Lo Rosso said: "I will auction it as dad always wanted, although sadly he passed away three years ago. That way all the money spent on the expert reports will have been a good investment."