The lawyer, Carlo Romagnoli, bought the 104 x 74.5 cm work at a local auction for a few thousand euros at the end of April.
Art critic Vladimir Cicognani, a consultant for the Bologna lawcourts and chambers of commerce, now says it may fetch stellar prices after it is authenticated as a Monet.
“Yes, to say that it is a Monet is correct in my opinion,” Cicognani told Libertà.
“It was probably painted around 1910, it’s a painting worth several million euros.”
He said that although it was not listed in any catalogue and was not one of the French master’s characteristic landscape works, it bore Monet’s signature in the bottom left.
Even despite the signature, said Cicognani, “signatures don’t really matter because I have studied this artist’s whole oeuvre and I recognise this painting as by him”.
ANSA
