Meet the 'Sherlock Holmes' of the art world

One man has become a behind-the-scenes force in the international art world after securing the return of art looted by the Nazis to the descendents of its original Jewish owners.

The return of "Seated Woman" by Henri Matisse to the Rosenberg family was his work. So was the restoration of "A Portrait of a Gentleman", by 16th-century artist El Greco, to the descendents of Jewish banker and art collector Julius Priester.

Two years after founding Art Recovery Group, a private company specialising in finding and recovering stolen, missing or looted art, he has been dubbed "Sherlock Holmes" in the specialist press.

"My staff makes fun of that actually," said Christopher Marinello, a 53-year-old with piercing blue eyes and a Brooklyn accent.

Marinello became a lawyer after abandoning his own art studies due to lack of talent, or so he puts it.

He made a name for himself during the seven years he worked at the Art Loss Register, a private database of lost or stolen artworks and antiques. He has now become a competitor of his former employer. 

"We set this (Art Recovery) up in 2013 to provide due diligence services to the art trade in an ethical and responsible and legal manner."

Art Recovery now employs half a dozen people in London, 16 in New Delhi and has a presence in New York and Milan.

It maintains a database of lost or stolen art which it aims to make the most complete in the world.