A painting found stashed inside a wall at an Italianmuseum has been confirmed as the stolen "Portraitof a Lady" by Austria's Gustav Klimt, prosecutorssaid on Friday, two decades after the artwork wentmissing.
The century-old painting was discovered concealedin an external wall by gardeners at the Ricci OddiGallery of Modern Art in Piacenza, northeast Italy, last month.
上個月這幅百年老畫被園丁發現藏在意大利東北部皮亞琴察的里奇·奧迪現代藝術館外墻里。
The museum estimates that the 55-by-65-centimetre (21-by-26-inch) expressionist work couldbe worth between 60 and 100 million euros (US$67-111 million), but notes the difficulty inestimating the work as it has never been sold on the market.
"It is with no small emotion that I can tell you the work is authentic," prosecutor Ornella Chiccatold reporters.
檢察官Ornella Chicca告訴記者：“我可以毫不夸張地告訴你，這幅作品是真跡。”
Museum officials had initially said they could not immediately determine whether the paintingwas indeed the stolen Klimt until scientific tests were undertaken.
博物館的工作人員最開始說他們不能立刻確定這幅畫是否就是被偷的克林姆特的畫，需要先進行科學檢測。
Painted in 1916-1917, the expressionist work depicts the face and torso of a young woman withbrown hair, over an emerald green background.
The painting went missing in February 1997 while the museum was closed for work.
1997年2月份博物館因工作原因關閉，這幅畫就失蹤了。
In December, gardeners removing ivy from a wall found a small ventilation space anddiscovered the painting inside, without a frame and wrapped in a black garbage bag.
The ivy covering the space had not been cut back for almost a decade.
常春藤蓋住了通風口，差不多有十年沒修剪了。
Chicca said further tests would determine whether the painting had been lingering inside thewall space since it was stolen, or whether it had been hidden there at a later date.
