Cheap girl's portrait 'could be priceless Monet'

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 15 - A portrait of a girl bought for a knock-down price at q Milan auction by a Piacenza lawyer and art collector two weeks ago could be a priceless work by French Impressionist master Claude Monet, a Bologna expert told local daily Libertà Sunday.
    The lawyer, Carlo Romagnoli, bought the 104x74. 5 cm work at a local auction for a few thousand euros at the end of April and art critic Vladimir Cicognani, a consultant for the Bologna lawcourts and chambers of commerce, now says it may fetch stellar prices after it is authenticated as a Monet.
    "Yes, to say that it is a Monet is correct in my opinion," Cicognani told Libertà.
    "It was probably painted around 1910, it's a painting worth several million euros." He said that although it was not listed in any catalogue and was not one of the French master's characteristic landscape works, it bore Monet's signature in the bottom left.
    Even despite the signature, said Cicognani, "signatures don't really matter because I have studied this artist's whole oeuvre and I recognise this painting as by him".
    photo by kind permission of Libertà daily in Piacenza (ANSA).