The lost XNUMXth century masterpiece hid in plain sight in New York for decades

A New York College professor unravels a longstanding art mystery just by visiting a local church. New York Post.

Tom Ruggio said he discovered a XNUMXth-century painting that had long been considered missing. He looked up from the back of the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in New Rochelle and saw the “missing” masterpiece.

“The light was a little brighter than usual, I saw this picture and was shocked,” said the professor of art history.

Ruggio immediately realized that it was a painting by an Italian painter of the XNUMXth century.

Together with other experts, he determined that the painting in the Baroque style was painted by the Italian artist Cesare Dandini. She depicts babies Jesus and St. John the Baptist with Jesus' parents, Mary and Joseph.

Art critics have considered this work to be missing for decades. Meanwhile, since the 1960s, it has been hidden on the wall of a local church since the XNUMXs.

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“This painting was considered lost for decades as it was hidden in plain sight in the church of New Rochelle,” Ruggio said.

The church agreed to lend the painting to Jonah College for a three-month demonstration in the library. But no one seems to know exactly how this religious institution got Dandini's job.

Monsignor Dennis Keane said the former head of the church bought the painting from a London gallery in the 1960s.

“He bought two paintings from a gallery, but we don't know the name of the gallery,” Keane said.