U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) repatriated a page from a 14th century manuscript and a 19th century Carelli painting to the government of Italy at a ceremony Friday at the Italian Embassy in Washington.
The illuminated manuscript, known as Codex D, was created between 1335 and 1345. On an unknown date, a page with the initial L depicting Saint Lucy was removed. In 1952, the page was purchased in good faith by the Cleveland Museum of Art after it was incorrectly labelled. Many years later, the missing page was discovered by art historians in an online catalogue. That page will now be returned to its home country in time for St. Lucy’s feast day on December 13.
The Carelli painting, stolen from a private residence in Naples in 2001, later surfaced at a Pennsylvania auction house in 2014 and was sold to an art dealer in California. The Italian Carabinieri contacted Homeland Security Investigations, who along with their counterparts at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, were able to assist in returning the work to its rightful owner.
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