His vast art collection Silvio Berlusconi ridiculed by one of Italy’s leading art critics. According to Vittorio Sgarbi, the 25,000 paintings are largely poor quality works of little to no value.
The former Italian prime minister, who died in June, bought many of the paintings and sculptures from late-night telemarketing programs. Managing the extensive collection proves to be a headache for his offspringaccording to the BBC.
The billionaire’s purchases are kept in a 3,200 sq.m. warehouse. near his mansion near Milan. They include paintings of the Virgin Mary, images of nude women and cityscapes of Paris, Naples and Venice among others, according to La Repubblica.
But the collection failed to impress Sgarbi, who told the magazine that “people who know very little about art” might enjoy visiting a museum containing the works.
There are perhaps six or seven paintings out of 25,000 of any artistic value, he added.
The entire collection is estimated to be worth around €20m (£17.4m), an average of €800 per painting. Berlusconi, who has dominated Italian politics since the early 1990s, had a net worth of around €6 billion at the time of his death.
However, he also possessed paintings of the highest quality. His main residence was decorated with works by the Renaissance painter Titian and the Dutch great Rembrandt.
Cesare Lampronti, a London-based art dealer who had a close relationship with Berlusconi for three decades, told the BBC the billionaire was an impulse buyer. “He liked to buy portraits of women which he gave as gifts to his friends. When he was younger he bought in galleries and from dealers, but later in life he bought from televised auctions.”
“He knew what he was buying was junk,” he added.
Berlusconi’s heirs are finding the huge collection an unbearable burden, the report said. Running the warehouse that houses the works of art costs about 800,000 euros a year, La Repubblica notes. The roach has already destroyed part of the collection. In some cases, the cost of exterminating pests exceeds the value of the paintings.
Source: News Beast
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