‘My father gave me his Picassos – now a court claims they are fakes'

Telegraph

12-07-2025

A businessman's claims to have been left genuine Pablo Picasso masterpieces by his father have been rejected by an Italian judge.
Roman judge Francesco Patrone threw out claims by Marcello Santelia, a businessman with links to the UK, that he had inherited 51 authentic artworks by Picasso.
Instead, Judge Patrone declared the works to be fakes and sentenced the 78-year-old to a suspended sentence of one year and eight months for attempting to pass them off as genuine. He has yet to hand down a written ruling explaining his decision.
But Mr Santelia, who told the court he had always believed the works to be genuine, said he planned to appeal against the decision.
'I am not a criminal'
Flanked by his two lawyers outside the courtroom, Mr Santelia said he was determined to clear his name and defend the authenticity of his art collection.
'I am not a criminal,' said Mr Santelia, a silver-haired grandfather from the small southern Italian town of Nocera Inferiore who ran a business in the UK for several years.
His lawyer, Giuseppe Spagnuolo, said that of the 51 works seized by Italian arts police, only one was being considered by the court to have any potential link to Picasso. He said this was unacceptable.
'We are convinced about the authenticity of the works and we will go ahead with an appeal,' Mr Spagnuolo said outside the court. 'The judge has requested a sentence of one year and eight months. He has eight days to deposit his reasoning with the court and we will appeal.'
Mr Santelia, who ran a construction company in Worcester before moving back to his native Italy, has always maintained that his father Giovanni, an art collector, was a friend of Picasso and had obtained the paintings and drawings from the Spanish painter in the 1950s.
Mr Santelia has always insisted that they were all genuine Picassos, potentially worth millions of pounds and has fought to have his claims recognised by the Italian government so he could sell them abroad.
But Italian police and prosecutors have long argued the collection is fake. The paintings and drawings were seized by Italian police when Mr Santelia tried to sell one of them, purportedly a portrait of Picasso's lover and muse Dora Maar with the title 'Dora Maar con cappello [with hat]', to a buyer in Dubai several years ago.
In the final court hearing on Monday, Mr Spagnuolo said the prosecutor had requested a heavier four-year sentence and a fine of €4,000, arguing the works were fake.
Four art experts were ordered by the court to examine Pablo Picasso's signature to determine whether the art works, which are said to have been produced between 1943 and 1956, known as the artist's Mediterranean Years period, were forgeries.
The experts are understood to have included the Picasso Administration, the Paris-based body which holds the rights to all of the artist's work, but neither their opinions nor their identity have been made publicly available.
An expert appointed by Mr Santelia's legal team says he has no doubt the paintings are genuine Picassos.
Alberto Bravo, a professor of graphology and handwriting based in Rome, told The Telegraph that although the signature is important in this case, the style of the 16 paintings he saw leaves no doubt that they are by the Spanish artist.
Professor Bravo claims that the experts appointed by the court were inappropriate for this case.
Mr Santelia said he wanted to get his paintings back and recuperate the large amount of money he had to spend on expert appraisals of the art works.
The art works are currently being held by Italy's Carabinieri arts police in a warehouse in Rome.
Diary suggests father visited Picasso
Mr Santelia's father Giovanni, an art dealer, is said to have brought the works back to the family home in Nocera Inferiore after buying them from Picasso at some point during the 1950s.
The diary of one English traveller, Pete Smith, records a visit Giovanni Santelia paid to Picasso's home in Mougins, France, during Christmas 1955.
On December 13 that year, Mr Smith wrote in his diary: 'Roger's to collect Santelia Giovanni en-route to meeting Pablo [Picasso] in Mougins for Christmas.'
The following day he recorded that Picasso gave his guests some of his work, writing: 'Arrive Mougins with Roger, Santelia Giovanni and Pablo. As always he has pictures for all of us to take home.'