SPAIN RETURNS ARTWORK SEIZED DURING CIVIL WAR – Spain’s minister called it a ‘moment of justice & reparation’
Almost 90 years on from the Spanish Civil War, a set of artworks held by the Franco regime have been returned to their rightful owners.
At a ceremony at Madrid’s Prado Museum, seven paintings which had belonged to civil war Republican politician and Madrid Mayor Pedro Rico were formally handed over to his granddaughter, after decades scattered across five different museums.
Spain’s Culture Minister, Ernest Urtasun, described the handover as an “important moment of justice and reparation.”
Francisca Rico, Pedro Rico’s granddaughter and heir, said she had been “very moved” and that the ceremony was “finally doing what should have been done long ago.”
When civil war broke out in 1936, works of art were seized from wealthy families across Spain, ostensibly to protect the valuable works from damage. But in the Franco dictatorship that followed, thousands of pieces were not returned to their owners and ended up scattered across museums and public institutions.
Following a 2022 law, public museums and government bodies across Spain have scoured their collections for artworks confiscated during the civil war and ensuing dictatorship, with over 6000 works identified so far, according to Urtasun.
The works include jewellery, tableware, ceramics, textiles, and liturgical ornaments, as well as paintings, sculptures, and furniture.
Two paintings, “The Viaticum” and “The Baptism,” were discovered in Madrid’s Museo del Traje, or Garment Museum. The museum’s Director, Helena Lopez, said finding the two paintings’ owners had been especially tricky as labels listing the owners had been removed.
