They say that there was no chance that Gianni Versace knew the painting was stolen when he purchased it. At the same time though, without a certain level of due diligence, it is easy to avoid finding out things that you don’t want to know. Its worth bearing in mind that this isn’t the first case of a fashion designer owning looted artefacts either.

From:
Reuters

Versace’s return stolen painting to original owners
LONDON | Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:39pm GMT

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – A painting stolen from a London home in 1979 and which ended up in the collection of late Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace has been returned to its original owners, Britain’s Art Loss Register said on Monday.

The work by 18th century German artist Johann Zoffany had been billed as the star lot in a Sotheby’s auction of the contents of Versace’s Lake Como villa last year, but it was withdrawn at the last moment.
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