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Peter Kidd: A Documented Case of Defamation and Concealment – From Giovanni Mazzarelli to #ReceptioGate
- OProM
- 10 mai
- 3 min de lecture
In 1979, Italian collector Giovanni Mazzarelli lawfully acquired a group of illuminated manuscripts through a private sale arranged by Sotheby’s London. The manuscripts had been deposited with Sotheby’s by the Swiss Bank Corporation as collateral and were released following internal assessments. According to Mazzarelli’s account—and as supported by multiple legal documents—this sale took place with the assistance of Sotheby’s senior specialists, including Dr Christopher de Hamel, who provided the initial valuation.
Two decades later, in 2000, Mazzarelli contacted Sotheby’s again, seeking a valuation for export. The manuscripts were returned to the London office, sealed, via courier. During this process, Peter Kidd—at the time working as a manuscript cataloguer for Sotheby’s—was involved in evaluating the volumes.
In the weeks that followed, Mazzarelli discovered, to his astonishment, that some of his manuscripts had been included in the catalogue for a Sotheby’s auction scheduled for 5 December 2000—without his authorisation or any formal consignment agreement. When he protested, his queries were first handled by Peter Kidd, who offered no substantive explanation. The matter was later transferred to Sotheby’s legal office.
A sworn statement issued by Dr Luigi Marani, Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic of Italy, provides crucial testimony. Marani confirms that Kidd had direct involvement in the handling of Mazzarelli’s property and acknowledges that Kidd was aware of the illicit provenance of the manuscripts long before the sale was suspended. To quote directly from Marani’s deposition:
“I believe Peter KIDD already knew the illicit provenance of the manuscripts that were to be auctioned, given the way he handled the communications and the lack of transparency towards Mazzarelli.”(Dichiarazione giurata, Sost. Proc. Marani, 2001)
Despite Mazzarelli’s willingness to cooperate, and despite his later initiative to return the manuscripts to Italy without seeking financial compensation, the narrative circulated behind the scenes suggested that he himself was the original thief of the manuscripts. For over a decade, Mazzarelli faced reputational damage, procedural obstruction, and false insinuations—none of which were ever validated by a court of law.
The parallels with the #ReceptioGate campaign are striking.
In December 2022, just days after Prof. Carla Rossi published a public report on the commercial dismemberment of medieval manuscripts and submitted a formal dossier to the Italian Carabinieri’s Art Crimes Unit, Peter Kidd—now operating independently as the author of the blog Medieval Manuscripts Provenance—launched a new defamatory campaign. Over the following months, he published more than twenty posts targeting Prof. Rossi’s academic affiliations, publications, legal counsel, and collaborators. These posts did not address the substance of Rossi’s work but relied instead on insinuation, omission, and reputational slander.
Shortly after these posts began circulating, Prof. Rossi received anonymous death threats. Fake obituaries were published online announcing her death. Mass emails were sent through academic mailing lists—without consent—repeating false claims. Journalists were approached with fabricated documents and encouraged to publish distorted stories. Kidd never distanced himself from any of this activity. In fact, terminology from his blog reappeared verbatim in anonymous attacks.
The strategy remains consistent: discredit and isolate individuals who question the ethical legitimacy of the manuscript trade. The message is clear—if you expose the market, the market will come after you.
Peter Kidd’s documented role in both the Mazzarelli affair and the ReceptioGate campaign reveals a pattern of behaviour that should no longer be tolerated by the academic or curatorial community. These are not isolated controversies—they are structurally connected acts of concealment and defamation, designed to protect a lucrative trade in dismembered cultural heritage.
OProM stands firmly on the side of truth, transparency, and the preservation of manuscript integrity. We will continue to document these abuses, name them for what they are, and expose those who seek to silence scholarship through intimidation.
Documentation and further reading:📄 Sworn Statement of Prosecutor Luigi Marani (2001):https://mazzarelligiovanni.jimdofree.com
📰 Corriere del Mezzogiorno – 16 September 2011:https://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/notizie/cronaca/2011/16-settembre-2011/messale-trani-asta-londraera-sparito-anni-70-recuperato--1901555528973.shtml
📰 La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno – 21 December 2011:https://www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it/news/puglia/303432/torna-a-bari-prezioso-messale-rubato-40-anni-fa.html
