Norfolk Heiress Returns Long‑Lost Renaissance Masterpiece to Its Italian Home

21 July 2025

A detail from the Solario artwork. The painting will be returned to the Civic Museum of Belluno. Photograph: Art Recovery International

Barbara de Dozsa, once resistant and now resolute, has surrendered a rare 16th‑century painting by Italian master Antonio Solario to the Civic Museum of Belluno, Italy—more than fifty years after it was stolen under mysterious circumstances. The painting, a delicate rendering of Madonna and Child, vanished from the museum in 1973 and resurfaced decades later in the collection of de Dozsa’s late husband, who acquired it in good faith shortly after the theft.

For years the artwork remained tucked away in East Barsham Manor, a historic 16th‑century estate in Norfolk once lauded by Henry VIII as his “small country palace.” De Dozsa’s initial refusal to release the painting triggered a prolonged standoff. She invoked the UK’s Limitation Act of 1980 to argue legal ownership, claiming her late husband’s purchase occurred long after the theft.

Experts and law enforcement acknowledged that in legal eyes she might hold title but morally and culturally the case lay elsewhere. The painting couldn’t be sold, displayed, loaned, or exported, its presence on Interpol and Italian Carabinieri stolen art registries ensuring it remained effectively unmarketable.

Christopher Marinello, a specialist art recovery lawyer working pro bono, engaged in persistent negotiations to convince de Dozsa to relinquish the piece. He countered her legal rationale by emphasizing that possession alone did not erase the work’s stolen status and highlighted the impossibility of any lawful transaction. He ultimately prevailed. Logistical support from Arte Generali, an insurer, facilitated the painting’s secretive hand‑off and journey back to Belluno, where the city’s mayor heralded the return as a reclamation of cultural soul and historical identity.

De Dozsa had resisted earlier overtures, including a 2017 attempt to sell the painting through a regional auction house, only to see the effort halted when museum officials recognized the work’s significance and alerted authorities. Delays stemming from cross‑border legal wrangling and pandemic‑era disruptions temporarily shielded the painting until 2020, when Norfolk Constabulary officially returned it to de Dozsa not to Italy as retaliation was not pursued in criminal court, given the elapsed time and lack of criminal charges.

Even when an insurance company offered to cover the £6,000 de Dozsa incurred in legal fees, she reneged. Critics argued that her insistence on payment violated the spirit of justice, especially since the artwork, valued at £60,000-80,000, could never legally enter the market again.

Today the painting is safely back in Belluno, its hidden years at Norfolk Manor having culminated in a dignified return journey. Other stolen works from the same 1973 cache remain missing, and Marinello is appealing for public help to trace them. The recovery stands as a potent reminder that cultural heritage, once lost, can still find its way home and that lawful ownership does not always outweigh the imperative of moral restitution.