Klimt's stolen 'Portrait of a Lady' returns to Piacenza museum after 23 years

After 23 years, Gustav Klimt's 'Portrait of a Lady' (1916–1917) was reinstalled at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna Ricci Oddi in Piacenza on December 10, 2020. The painting was stolen in February 1997 and mysteriously rediscovered in December 2019 in an external niche of the museum. The return was celebrated in a live-streamed inauguration attended by Italian Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini, who emphasized the symbolic significance during pandemic closures. The work was placed in a special display case funded by Banca di Piacenza and Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano. The painting's subject is possibly Alma Mahler or Ria Munk. In 1996, high school student Claudia Maga discovered through X-rays that Klimt had painted over an earlier, lost portrait. The work was originally acquired by industrialist Giuseppe Ricci Oddi in 1925 and donated to Piacenza, with the museum opening in 1931.