He noticed that in the upper left corner of the painting, there was a very special signature.
It was a signature which bore an unmistakable resemblance to the famous artist, Picasso. You’re probably wondering why that is such a big deal. It’s because Picasso is a world famous artist, and much of his work was destroyed during the plunder of the Nazis in WWII, leading there to be very few pieces of his work around today. And that means Picasso’s work is of incredible value.
During the second world war, Hitler was determined to get his hands on all works of art, with the hope to destroy the pieces or steal them given their value.
That being said, finding any artwork that was created by Picasso at that time is extremely difficult and rare, and any art that is found to have survived the war is an important part of art history. That means, there is a whole host of historians and art dealers extremely keen to get their hands on Picasso’s work, and they are willing to pay a whole lot of money to ensure they do so. Apparently, Verrastro’s husband purchased the painting for the equivalent of $10 from a street market in London during World War II. So that’s a pretty impressive profit that’s been made on that purchase.
This particular painting is one that Carl believes was painted by the master, Pablo Picasso, himself as a recreation of his 1901 masterpiece, “Woman With A Cape”.
There’s no disputing that the 1901 image which hangs in Cleveland’s museum of art bares a striking resemblance to the one owned by Carl’s aunt.
