Goya's 'La marquesa de Santa Cruz' Returns to Prado in Special Installation After 40-Year Recovery Saga
The portrait 'La marquesa de Santa Cruz' by Francisco de Goya has experienced a complex journey. In 1983, María Mercedes Fernández Valdés sold it to Pedro Antonio Saorín Bosch for 25 million pesetas, with a ban on export. However, Saorín illicitly transported it to Zurich, where it was acquired by Lord Wimborne. The Spanish Ministry of Culture found it in Los Angeles and proposed a $12 million purchase to the Getty Museum, which declined due to the illegal export status. After passing through various shell companies, Spain initiated a declaratory action in the High Court, revealing forged export documents. Just days before a 1986 auction, Spain bought it back for $6 million, returning it to Madrid, where it was temporarily displayed and designated as a Bien de Interés Cultural. Notably, Franco had planned to present it to Hitler in 1941.
Key facts
- Goya's 'La marquesa de Santa Cruz' portrait of Joaquina Téllez Girón is held at the Museo del Prado since 1986.
- In 1983, it was sold to Pedro Antonio Saorín Bosch with an export ban, but illegally smuggled to Zurich and acquired by Lord Wimborne.
- The Getty Museum declined to buy it in Los Angeles for $12 million due to illegal export.
- Spain purchased it for $6 million in 1986 after legal action in the UK High Court proved forged export permits.
- Over 30,000 people visited its temporary display at the Palacio de Villahermosa in Madrid.
- Franco intended to gift the painting to Hitler in 1941, as per a letter from Marqués de Lozoya.
- Three copies were commissioned in 1942 from painter Núñez Losada, with one now displayed alongside the original at the Prado.
- The painting was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural and inexportable to prevent future illegal exports.
Entities
Artists
- Francisco de Goya
- Núñez Losada
- Durero
- Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor
- José de la Mano
- Miguel Satrústegui
- Sánchez Cantón
- Marqués de Lozoya
Institutions
- Museo del Prado
- Getty Museum
- Christie's London
- High Court
- Spanish Ministry of Cultura
- Servicio de Recuperación del Patrimonio Artístico Nacional
- LACMA Los Angeles
- Colección Wellington
- Palacio de Villahermosa
- Museo Nacional del Prado
- County Museum de Los Ángeles
- Museo Getty
- Christie's
- Fundación de Apoyo a la Cultura
- Banco Central
- Revista de Arte - Logopress
Locations
- Madrid
- Spain
- Zurich
- Switzerland
- Los Ángeles
- United States
- Liberia
- British Virgin Islands
- London
- United Kingdom
- Hendaya
- Filipinas
- Philippines
- France