A Valuable Discovery - Unit 9 - Mystery and Imagination

B2 First · Multiple Choice Reading · Ready for B2 First 4th Edition Workbook, Macmillan Education Limited

You are going to read a magazine article about a painting. For questions 1-6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

In 2019, two gardeners were doing routine jobs at the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art in Piacenza, Italy, and they discovered something very strange when clearing some ivy. By chance, they noticed that one of the walls had a metal panel in it; it caught their eye and they decided to take a look inside. There, between the internal and external gallery walls, was a black box. The worker admitted that he had originally thought it was just a bin full of rubbish. It's a good job, then, that he decided to double check. Could it be the Portrait of a Lady painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, which had gone missing in 1997? The gallery staff was understandably excited as they congratulated the gardeners on the potentially special find. The gallery's Vice President, Laura Bonfanti, was cautiously optimistic and wanted to wait until various tests had been carried out to determine that it was, without a doubt, by the famous artist. Ultraviolet and infrared light would be used to compare similar tests taken in 1996. But looking at more obvious features like seals and stamps, everything was looking good. The painting had been stolen back in 1997 when it was being prepared to be transported to a special exhibition. How exactly it had been stolen is still unclear. The frame of the painting, thought to be worth a staggering 60 million euros, had been found next to the skylight on the roof, which was strange because it couldn't actually fit through the skylight. This led some to think it was an inside job. The painting had made headlines shortly before its disappearance because an art student discovered it was actually a double portrait and Klimt's only known one. This means it was a painting that had been painted over another one. Police got to work on finding the whereabouts of the artwork. There were various leads. At one point, a letter was sent to Libertà, a local newspaper. It was from two people claiming that they had stolen the picture. The police also joined forces with a local art thief to see if he could come up with any ideas. And three months after the theft, a painting was found on the border between France and Italy. This was apparently unconnected. Years later, fingerprints were discovered on the original frame but this, too, came to nothing, leaving police scratching their heads. In 2016, a BBC investigation revealed that the local thief who had helped the investigation admitted that he had stolen the original. Nevertheless, he claimed this was months before the actual theft. According to him, he'd taken the painting and replaced it with a fake. Then, on learning the fake was going to be taken to an exhibition, he got rid of the fake in order to avoid experts noticing that it wasn't genuine. The thief suggested that the original must have been sold and would not be returned. In 2017, when 2017 came and went without the painting, they knew he was an unreliable source. Art theft is nothing new. Caravaggio's stolen painting, Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence, was stolen in 1969, and its whereabouts remains one of the art world's biggest mysteries. Had the gardener not found it, Klimt's could have joined the same club. The police are no nearer to discovering the truth about how it got to its hiding place and who was involved in putting it there, but at least we appear to have it back.

Access to the painting was via an internal wall.

The painting was found with a metal panel around it.

Regular work on the building was being carried out.

The gardener knew he had found something significant.

What is true about how the painting was found?

very positively

with celebration

with great uncertainty

with slight reservation

How did the Vice President of the gallery react?

The gallery officials had always known where the painting was.

The original painting had actually been inside the fake painting.

A thief had been paid a lot of money to steal the painting.

Some gallery workers had been involved in the theft.

What does 'inside job' mean in line 28?

because they were confused by the crime

because they thought they had a strong lead

because they were contacted by a local thief

because the fingerprints on the frame disappeared

Why were the police 'scratching their heads' (line 42)?

He had stolen both paintings.

He had stolen the real painting.

He had stolen the fake painting.

He had sold the real painting.

What did the local art thief admit?

We must continue to hunt for other stolen works.

We will never know how many artworks are stolen.

We are fortunate to have the painting in our possession.

We should have had a better investigation by the police.

What does the writer suggest in the last paragraph?

A Valuable Discovery

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