Beautiful stories like we would like to hear every day. A work by Sandro Botticelli has just been found after several decades of obscurity having kept it from the radar of the authorities. And this time, it's not a move from Arthur Brand, the famous art world detective, but from the Italian Ministry of Culture itself.

The painting in question is a representation of the Virgin Mary with Christ, measuring 58x80 cm. It had been sponsored by the Church and remained there in peace for more than 4 centuries. But in 1982, an earthquake wreaked havoc in Naples where the painting was kept. The painting is then entrusted to the Somma, a family from the city responsible for taking care of it.

For several years, the Ministry of Culture regularly came to ensure its proper conservation by its owners. His visits then became less and less frequent to the point that the painting ended up being "forgotten" by the Italian state, according to his own words. And as proof, the work was included in the register of missing works in 1990.

It was therefore finally almost half a century later that an investigation made it possible to go back to the Somma to recover it. It is now planned that after a restoration of at least one year, the painting will be made accessible to the public by being exhibited in a Neapolitan museum. Because all is well that ends well...