The Titian mission

Before WW2 an American collector of Italian masterpieces decided to cut out Bernard Berenson and go to Rome. Here he found a dealer who agreed to sell him a Titian. However, the dealer also pointed out that Italian export controls would cause trouble and that it would be best to have a painting of Mussolini applied over the Titian.

This was fine since the dealer mentioned a firm of picture restorers in New York who would remove the Mussolini. Which procedure the collector sought on his return.

However, the restorer then telephoned the collector to advise that the removal of the Mussolini portrait did not stop at recovering the Titian. For this had started to peel off to reveal a further portrait of Mussolini.