Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, “Portrait of a Lady,” which was stolen from the Ricci Oddi Gallery in Piacenza, Italy, 1997 was discovered by accident at the same gallery in 2019.
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Gardeners, while trimming ivy in the gallery’s garden, found the painting embedded in one of the garden’s walls.
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The gardeners noticed a gap in the wall, inside of which was a black plastic bag containing the missing painting.
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The ivy covering this wall had not been trimmed in almost ten years.

The painting disappeared in February 1997.
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At that time, the police said, the thieves removed the painting from the wall using a device similar to a fishing hook and removed the painting from the gallery through the skylight of the gallery ceiling, where the glass had been removed.
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After the news of the discovery of the painting was published, the two men who had stolen it confessed that they were the thieves.
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They claimed that three years earlier they had sent a letter to a local journalist confessing to the theft of the painting in 1997.
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According to the “Guardian” newspaper, the thieves claimed to have returned the painting four years earlier as “a gift to the city,” but their confession had been ignored.
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The lawyer for these two men stated that they had put the painting in the garden wall four years earlier.
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However, it was not clear where the painting had been kept in the intervening years.
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The motivation for the thieves’ confession seemed to be that they would not be prosecuted for the crime since it had occurred 20 years ago.
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Ten months before the painting’s theft, an art student discovered that the painting was painted over another painting.
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She convinced the former director of the gallery to examine the work with X-rays.
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Beneath the “Portrait of a Lady” was the painting of a young girl from Vienna who had died young.
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The value of the painting is at least $66 million.
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Warning: these questons and answers are not all representative of the way questions will be asked and answered in the pilot, because some questions are compound and some answers do not include citations.

Q: When was Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of a Lady” stolen?
A: In February 1997

Q: From where was it stolen?
A: Ricci Oddi Gallery in Piacenza, Italy

Q: Who first discovered it by accident, 20 years after the theft?
A: Gardeners

Q: What were the gardeners doing when they discovered it?
A: Trimming ivy in the gallery’s garden

Q: Where was the painting hidden?
A: In one of the garden’s walls

Q: What was the painting wrapped in?
A: A black plastic bag

Q: How did the thieves take the painting off of the gallery wall?
A: By using a device similar to a fishing hook 

Q: How did the thieves remove the painting from the gallery?
A: Through the skylight of the gallery ceiling, where the glass had been removed

Q: What did the thieves claim they did three years prior to the discovery of the stolen painting?
A: That they had sent a letter to a local journalist confessing to the theft of the painting

Q: How many years before the painting’s discovery did the thieves put it in the wall?
A: Four years

Q: What was the probable motivation for the thieves’ confession after 20 years?
A: That they would not be prosecuted for the crime since it had occurred 20 years ago

Q: What did an art student discover 10 months before the painting was stolen?
A: The existence of another painting beneath it

Q: How was the presence of the second painting detected?
A: By using X-rays

Q: What was the subject of the second painting?
A: A young girl from Vienna who had died young

Q: What was the value of the painting?
A: At least $66 million