Vicenza, Popular Bank paintings go up for auction. The case in Parliament

Going up for auction tomorrow in Florence are six 19th-century paintings from Palazzo Thiene, the historic headquarters of Banca Popolare di Vicenza, which is currently in compulsory liquidation. The Palazzo, a Renaissance building designed in the 15th century and expanded in the 16th century by Palladio, has now been acquired by an American fund, Bain Capital, which has therefore decided to begin disposing of some of the objects contained in the building.

Among the works that the Pandolfini auction house will be auctioning off are a couple of views of Florence and paintings by Achille Beltrame, Eugenio Bonivento, Noè Bordignon and Pietro Roi: of the latter, in particular, a Juliet linked to the artist’s masterpiece, the Romeo and Juliet kept at the Museo Civico di Palazzo Chiericati, a painting known and appreciated to the point of being reproduced on the cover of the museum’s collections catalog, is going up for auction. The paintings, moreover, all have very low quotations: except for the two Tuscan views, the other paintings have estimates that hover around 1,000 euros.

According to Forza Italia deputy Pierantonio Zanettin, the citizens of Vicenza were promised that the Bpvi’s artistic heritage would not be put up for sale, as it is tied by a lien to Palazzo Thiene. In fact, for the six paintings that will go to auction there is no pertinence bond, and the sale is entirely legitimate. Now the fears, beyond the fact that Palazzo Thiene could become inaccessible to the public (and thus visitors would not be able to see the masterpieces by Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Bassano and other great Veneto artists that are preserved there), concern the other paintings in the collection.

Zanettin has in fact addressed a parliamentary question to the minister of cultural heritage, Dario Franceschini, to ask, first of all, “why the paintings described above are not bound by a constraint of pertinence to Palazzo Thiene,” and then whether “other paintings already housed in the picture gallery of Palazzo Thiene may in the future follow the same fate and be sold at auction.” The congressman also urges the minister to take steps “to avoid the auction sale of the above-mentioned paintings, binding them inextricably to the place where they have been kept for many years.”

Image: Pietro Roi, Juliet (pastel on oval cardboard, 44 x 59 cm)

Vicenza, Popular Bank paintings go up for auction. The case in Parliament

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