Latest news with #PradoMuseum
CNA
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Spain returns artwork seized during Civil War
MADRID: Spain on Thursday (May 22) returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening. In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners. The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power. "It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spain returns artwork seized during Civil War
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain on Thursday returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening. In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners. The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power. "It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France. "(They're ) finally doing what should have been done long ago," she said.
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Spain returns artwork seized during Civil War
Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, gives a speech during a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings stolen during the Spanish Civil War from Pedro Rico, former mayor of Madrid, to his family, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran A person looks at paintings, stolen from former mayor of Madrid, Pedro Rico, during the Spanish Civil War, displayed before being returned to his family during a ceremony held by the Spanish government at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran A person looks at paintings, stolen from former mayor of Madrid, Pedro Rico, during the Spanish Civil War, displayed before being returned to his family during a ceremony held by the Spanish government at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran Francisca Rico, granddaughter of Pedro Rico, former Mayor of Madrid, attends a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings stolen during the Spanish Civil War from Rico to his family, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, gives a speech during a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings to the family of Pedro Rico, former mayor of Madrid, stolen during the Spanish Civil War, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran MADRID - Spain on Thursday returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening. In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners. The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power. "It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France. "(They're ) finally doing what should have been done long ago," she said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Spain returns artwork seized during Civil War
MADRID, May 23 (Reuters) - Spain on Thursday returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening. In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners. The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power. "It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France. "(They're ) finally doing what should have been done long ago," she said.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Prado Museum experts expose lost Caravaggio scam as dealer faces fraud accusations
A painting, that for a short while was believed to be a lost masterpiece by Caravaggio, has now become the focal point of a major fraud investigation. The artwork, titled Ecce Homo with Two Executioners, was sold for €275,000 ($297,000) by Spanish dealer Herennia Trillo in early 2023. However, experts from Madrid's Prado Museum have now denounced it as a forgery, stating that the work is of an unknown artist with 'not particularly refined workmanship'. According to El Confidencial, which first broke the story, Trillo may have conspired with a woman posing as a Caravaggio specialist from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, identified as Sara Muñoz. A Madrid gallerist, David Badía, is also under scrutiny for allegedly issuing false invoices to obscure the origins of Trillo's earnings. Trillo allegedly pressured the buyer into a rushed purchase by claiming other investors were interested. After the sale, she then blocked further authentication and later tried to ship the painting to herself in Switzerland instead of delivering it to the defrauded buyer, according to reports. Prado experts were called to evaluate the painting last summer. While they confirmed it belonged to the Italian rather than Spanish Baroque tradition and dated it to the early 17th century - technically aligning with Caravaggio's era - they ruled out its attribution to the Milan-born old master. The Madrid court will now review the evidence from the Prado's assessment of the painting. Last year, another Ecce Homo painting authenticated by the Prado as a genuine Caravaggio, sold for $39 million - soaring from its initial €1,500 auction estimate. The oil-on-canvas depicting Christ bleeding under a crown of thorns was open to public viewing from 27 May until October, as part of a unique one-work exhibition at the prestigious Spanish museum. For the uninitiated, Caravaggio - full name Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - was an Italian artist born in 1571. He led a chequered life in which poverty and violence recurred. Caravaggio was in particular a notoriously rumbustious brawler, and four years after fleeing Rome following his involvement - intentional or otherwise - in the murder of a young man, he died in contested circumstances in 1610 at the age of 38. His art is often identifiable for its use of chiaroscuro - dramatic contrast between light and shadow. Oddly, this technique might be the very reason why some of Caravaggio's works have gone missing for so long. (Ireland's National Gallery, for example, now houses the Italian's The Taking of Christ, after it was discovered in a Dublin dining room in 1990.) Over the years, as a painting's varnish yellows or accrues dirt - particularly in smoke-heavy domestic environments - Caravaggio's hallmark treatment of light can become obscured to the untrained eye. Euronews Culture's resident film critic David Mouriquand did a deep-dive into Caravaggio's looming influence on last year's Netflix TV series 'Ripley'. In the show, set in Italy, the Baroque painter's works are regularly featured and the cinematography leans heavily into his aesthetic.
