Prado launches Instagram hunt for lost Mengs painting

The Museo del Prado in Madrid has launched an international appeal via Instagram to locate a missing painting by Anton Raphael Mengs, a Santa Cecilia canvas last seen in 2001. The work belongs to an unnamed Italian private collector. The appeal, posted on January 31, garnered over 40,000 views in hours. Andrés Úbeda de los Cobos, head curator of 18th-century painting and Goya at the Prado, personally appears in the story holding a photo of the work. He also repeated part of the message in Italian, as the painting was last exhibited in 2001 in Dresden and at Palazzo Zabarella in Padua. Úbeda traveled to Rome last summer to contact the owner but found no family members at the address. The search is tied to a major Mengs retrospective opening in November 2025 at the Prado, co-curated by Úbeda and Javier Jordán de Urríes. Mengs (1728–1779) was a German-born painter who served as court painter to Charles III of Spain from 1761 to 1776. The Santa Cecilia, painted around 1760, emulates Domenichino and reflects Mengs' classical ideals. The painting is not listed with the Italian Soprintendenza nor auction records since 2001, suggesting it may have passed privately among heirs. The Prado's use of social media for this search is unprecedented for the museum, which has won awards for its Instagram morning live streams.