‘He had a sensitive soul’: inside Silvio Berlusconi’s bizarre art collection

During the final years of his life, the former Italian premier amassed thousands of mostly worthless' works from late-night shopping channels. Lucas Vianini became their curator

Lucas Vianini was presenting what he described as a very suggestive" painting of a grieving Virgin Mary on a late-night shopping channel when the art expert received a call from a keen buyer.

It was not uncommon to receive prank calls when presenting paintings during the live TV auctions. So when the channel's telephone operator told him that the buyer was called Silvio Berlusconi, he thought it was a joke.