The forgotten Botticelli: masterpiece rediscovered after 50 years

A painting by Sandro Botticelli which is said to have been forgotten for more than 50 years after disappearing from the Italian state's art records has been recovered from a family home near Naples.

- Lorenzo Tondo

The artwork, which dates to the 15th century and is believed to be worth about €100m (£86m), was initially housed in a church in the town of Santa Maria la Carità, before being entrusted to a local family who kept it at a private residence for generations.

For reasons that remain unclear, the painting, one of the last by the Italian renaissance master - who is best known for The Birth of Venus and Primavera - then fell off the state's radar, to the point that many thought it had been lost altogether.

Massimiliano Croce, of the carabinieri command for the protection of cultural heritage of Naples, said yesterday: "The last time the authorities had inspected the private residence where the Botticelli painting was kept [was] over 50 years ago. Since then, inexplicably, the painting had been forgotten by the authorities. When, after research on these works to be inspected, we realised that a painting by Botticelli had been located in a private home for over 50 years, we decided to inspect it."