An inquiry is being made by the Venetian branch of the National Commission for Fine Arts as to how the four Giorgione panels were exported from Venice, According to the preliminary inguiry the course of events was:
Some months ago the owner of the panels offered them for sale and asked the equivalent of £30 for the four, A foreign antiquary who was interested asked the opinion of an American expert and of the director of one of the galleries in Vienna.
The opinion was formed by these experts that even if they were not Giorgione's work the panels had been done by one of his school and were of great value.
The owner then offered them to two dealers in Venice, but refused the price they offered, He is alleged then to have taken the aeroplane which flies between Venice and Vienna daily and to have shown them to an expert in the Austrian capital. This person, who is described as one of the best judges of art, gave his opinion that the panels had been painted by Giorgone, and telegraphed in that sense to London,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.