Italian auction house Casa D’Aste Della Rocca says the flower painting that it put up for auction in 2012 is by Mario Nuzzi, not Paolo Porpora.
The oil painting of flowers in a vase gained worldwide attention in late August when a Taiwanese boy stumbled and punched a hole in the painting at an exhibition in Taipei.
The exhibition organizer said that the damaged painting was a 17th-century work by Paolo Porpora called Flowers. The organizer said the painting was worth US$1.5 million. The damaged work of art has since been repaired and put back on display.
However, the Italian auction house told Taiwan’s Central News Agency in an e-mail that its experts confirmed the painting is attributable to Mario Nuzzi. It also said it would like to know on what basis the painting is said to be by Paolo Porpora, given that it was not signed.
Confusion has arisen as to who actually painted the artwork, after it was found that Casa d’Aste Della Rocca put a painting up for auction that looks identical to the one being displayed in Taipei.
Andrea Rossi, the Italian curator of the Taipei exhibition, has insisted that the painting was by Porpora. He also said it had been misidentified by the auction house.