Berlusconi, the scab collector

A “collector of scabs.” This is how Silvio Berlusconi was defined in the episode of Report aired on Rai Tre on Sunday, October 15, during a report dedicated to his singular passion for art. Singular because, unlike most art collectors, who usually follow their passion with care, looking for rare objects or otherwise in line with an idea or research, Berlusconi allegedly bought works of art compulsively, simply to accumulate objects with the idea of becoming the biggest collector in Italy. And now this immense collection, from 25,000 works of art worth an estimated 20 million euros, is a problem.

In Luca Bertazzoni’s report, titled The Scab Collector, profiling the Berlusconi collector is his friend Vittorio Sgarbi, who recounts how Berlusconi used to “compulsively buy, with Fascina probably or by himself, paintings at auctions.” the bulk of the collection is, in fact, the result of purchases at telesales, so much so that over the years the former prime minister has established ongoing relationships with a number of galleries that do this kind of business. One of these, which claims to have sold Berlusconi about 5,000 works, is Newarte in Arzano, which sells mostly works by contemporary artists who imitate the style of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The only name mentioned in the report is that of a certain Francesco De Michelis, a 74-year-old artist who, according to one of the telemarketers, has an exclusive relationship with the gallery, which buys the artists’ complete output and then resells their works. These are paintings of modest value, a few hundred euros, often moreover made to commission pandering to Berlusconi’s tastes. The themes? Madonnas with Child, battle scenes, paintings of Napoleonic subjects and portraits of Napoleon, views of Berlusconi’s favorite cities, such as Paris and Naples, and female nudes.

Berlusconi’s modus operandi is recounted by a former telemarketer, later set up on his own, Lucas Vianini, who for a couple of years also had the job of curator of the collection (a job that was allegedly refused by Vittorio Sgarbi: “he wanted me to do appraisals that were impossible,” the current undersecretary recounted, “because there was nothing to write, in the sense that if one takes a copy of a view by Canaletto, it’s a copy, what do you have to write?”). Berlusconi would connect by phone during the telesales and buy the works en bloc: “the president was an assiduous participant in television auctions,” Vianini revealed. “Normally the paintings are unveiled within four hours, and instead he happened to book them all and we were left with a two-hour schedule to fill with no more works.”

According to Sgarbi, with what Berlusconi has spent in three or four years (in fact, this is a very recent passion, probably born around 2018, although even before that date the Cavaliere had bought works of art anyway), a collection of a few works, but all masterpieces, could have been set up: instead, he preferred to spend the same amount to buy 25,000 works (“he used to say, ’How wonderful, the largest collection in the world,’” Sgarbi said. “A bit of a childish thing. He worked with the idea of buying a quantity of artworks.”). According to antiquarian Cesare Lampronti, with whom Berlusconi has long had dealings, the president “knew that what he was buying was worthless” (so he told the BBC). In the past, Berlusconi also bought a few valuable works: the best known is a masterpiece by Plinio Nomellini, namely the portrait of Isadora Duncan. Then there are works at Villa San Martino that were already in the mansion when Berlusconi bought it, including works by Titian and Tintoretto. The passion for scabs was born in recent years.

The point is that now this legacy risks becoming a problem for the heirs because of the cost of running thehangar where the paintings are neatly stowed. A hangar located near Villa San Martino, Berlusconi’s home in Arcore, which costs about 800,000 euros a year. What’s more, according to what was revealed in an article in Repubblica, there would also be conservation problems, since woodworms have appeared and attacked numerous works. Thus, the sons intend to dispose of them, and the fate of the collection seems to be already marked, as Emanuele Lauria reveals in Repubblica: “The Cavaliere’s last expensive toy, the large hangar with twenty-five thousand between paintings and statues compulsively purchased at night auctions, will be decommissioned.” Destruction that according to Sgarbi, “at least on an artistic level, would not be a crime.”

Image: Silvio Berlusconi. Photo: Niccolò Caranti

Berlusconi, the scab collector

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.