Leonardo da Vinci and the Portrait of Isabella d'Este
In 2013, an oil painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, the portrait of Isabella d'Este, Margravine of Mantua, turns up in Lugano. The owner of the painting, Emidia Cecchini, is about to sell it for 140 million euros when Italy accuses her of illegal export. The painting is confiscated, but Switzerland does not hand it over.
For 500 years it was not known whether Leonardo completed the portrait of Isabella d'Este, the sketch of which hangs in the Louvre. Expertises of the painting in Lugano show similarities to Leonardo da Vinci's working method and place the age at the time of the Renaissance. For the first time, the images of the expertise are published in this film. Italian Emidia Cecchini, 74, who inherited the painting from her father, is sentenced to 14 months in prison by an Italian court for illegally exporting a cultural object. Italy does not believe her that the painting has always belonged to her family and has been in Switzerland for many years, and asks Switzerland for legal assistance and surrender of the painting. Will Switzerland play along or protect the owner's property? The film by Annette Frei Berthoud tells the story of the painting and accompanies Emidia Cecchini in her fight for her painting.
Switzerland 2019, Italian, German
This film is also available in English, please contact us.
