Discovered by a Turin branch of the cultural heritage unit, a subsidiary of the Italian state police known as the Carabinieri, the 16th-century work, titled Portrait of a Man with a Beret, first went missing two decades ago from an undisclosed location. Following its disappearance in 2004, authorities believed it had been taken to Switzerland illegally.
The Renaissance painter was active during the 16th century as a member of the Venetian school. He gained fame for rendering aristocratic and mythical subjects in dramatic styles, and he served as a court painter to Italian nobles and members of the Austria’s Habsburg dynasty before his death in 1576.