After more than 17 years, police have reopened the investigation into a theft from the Ricci-Oddi Gallery in northern Italy. In February 1997, while the gallery was undergoing a renovation, thieves made off with Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of a Woman.” The assailants, who either entered the gallery through the main entrance or removed the work through the building’s skylight, left a partial fingerprint on the painting’s frame. Investigators hope that today’s state-of-the-art technology will help identify a DNA match for the print.
The Klimt painting, which depicts a dark-haired woman, was acquired by the Ricci-Oddi Gallery in 1925. “Portrait of a Woman” is one of the most sought-after stolen paintings in Italy.
Klimt, an Austrian symbolist painter, was one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. He is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan.
