A painting found stashed inside a wall at an Italianmuseum has been confirmed as the stolen "Portraitof a Lady" by Austria's Gustav Klimt, prosecutorssaid on Friday, two decades after the artwork wentmissing.
The century-old painting was discovered concealedin an external wall by gardeners at the Ricci OddiGallery of Modern Art in Piacenza, northeast Italy, last month.
上个月这幅百年老画被园丁发现藏在意大利东北部皮亚琴察的里奇·奥迪现代艺术馆外墙里。
The museum estimates that the 55-by-65-centimetre (21-by-26-inch) expressionist work couldbe worth between 60 and 100 million euros (US$67-111 million), but notes the difficulty inestimating the work as it has never been sold on the market.
"It is with no small emotion that I can tell you the work is authentic," prosecutor Ornella Chiccatold reporters.
检察官Ornella Chicca告诉记者:“我可以毫不夸张地告诉你,这幅作品是真迹。”
Museum officials had initially said they could not immediately determine whether the paintingwas indeed the stolen Klimt until scientific tests were undertaken.
博物馆的工作人员最开始说他们不能立刻确定这幅画是否就是被偷的克林姆特的画,需要先进行科学检测。
Painted in 1916-1917, the expressionist work depicts the face and torso of a young woman withbrown hair, over an emerald green background.
The painting went missing in February 1997 while the museum was closed for work.
1997年2月份博物馆因工作原因关闭,这幅画就失踪了。
In December, gardeners removing ivy from a wall found a small ventilation space anddiscovered the painting inside, without a frame and wrapped in a black garbage bag.
The ivy covering the space had not been cut back for almost a decade.
常春藤盖住了通风口,差不多有十年没修剪了。
Chicca said further tests would determine whether the painting had been lingering inside thewall space since it was stolen, or whether it had been hidden there at a later date.