15th Century Illuminated Manuscript (Copy)

Illuminated Leaf from Breviary of Ludovico da Romagnano

Thefts from libraries are particularly horrendous. Illuminated artworks are unceremoniously cut out of rare books and often lost forever.

This illuminated leaf was cut from the breviary of Ludovico da Romagnano, a bishop of Torino in the 15th century. Until 1990, this leaf was in the Archivio Arcivescovile di Torino. According to media reports at the time, the theft was discovered in August 1990 and the thief arrested. The thief and his wife had entered the archives in the guise of volunteers, cut a total of 32 leaves from manuscripts in the collection and then sold them in Italy and abroad.

This particular leaf was sold as part of a larger lot at Sotheby’s in 1993. It was sold a second time at Heritage Auction in Texas, USA in 2012 and then consigned again for sale in London in 2021.  Art Recovery International’s Chris Marinello, working pro-bono for the Republic of Italy, negotiated an unconditional surrender of the artwork and returned it to the Ministry of Culture. It has now been repatriated to the Archive in Torino.