Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Raphael Copy Discovered in Apartment!

My cousin just sent me this post, and I'm so excited/jealous about the news that I have to post right away. The story sounds like a dream-come-true: an Italian couple decided to remodel their apartment and found a 16th century fresco behind their plastered wall! Although Tarcisio and Teresa de Paolis found the fresco in the 1970s, they only recently decided to announce their find to the public (it appears they were worried that they would lose their home because of this discovery).

The fresco appears to be by Ugo da Scarpi - it is a miniaturized copy of frescoes from Raphael's "Room of Heliodorus" (1512-1514; located in the Vatican - you can take a virtual tour of the room here). The detail on the right is from Raphael's fresco The Mass at Bolsena; you can compare this detail with the da Scarpi copy (located in the photograph with the de Paolis couple).

What an amazing find! I'm green with envy. I have a secret hope that one day I'll discover a masterpiece that was hidden away in an attic or antique shop.

Do you know of any other amazing art discoveries?