Bellini Rubato

This is the altarpiece in a small, stark chapel in the church of Madonna dell'Orto (Madonna of the Garden) in Venice. It's an empty frame on a simple marble altar. I've seen a mop and bucket leant against it; I don't think anyone prays there. Somewhat passive-aggressively propped beneath - not in - the frame is a scale colour photo of a painting, Giovanni Bellini's Madonna and Child from 1478. It's a very glossy, slightly warped print; you couldn't mistake it for the real thing. It's very definitely not allowed in the frame, either. (Don't get any ideas).

Beneath the picture (not quite legible in this photo) is a label with text in small capital letters, claiming that this is a faithful reproduction of a painting stolen during the night of the 1st of May 1993. That was the third time this painting was stolen. I like to think that the previous two times were the nights of the 29th and 30th of April 1993. 

It turns out that two novels were published last year that are both about stolen Bellini paintings. (The name 'Bellini' may have a nice ring; there aren't many books about stolen Sodomas, for example). Maybe Bellinis are particularly poorly-guarded, I don't know, but look at that Madonna's face (here's a better image): she's doing that God-not-again starey-eye thing you do when someone won't stop telling you about their year of self-discovery in Nepal, or when someone keeps stealing you, again and again.