The peculiar story of a Goya painting that is auctioned today for 2 million euros

• Art Goya's painting goes up for auction for two million euros

The painting entitled '

, attributed to the painter Francisco de

, goes up for auction this Thursday at the Sala Alcalá in Madrid, at a price of

.

It is not the first time that the painting, an oil painting 107 x 80 centimeters, from between

, has sought a buyer, since in 2011 the painting was presented at the Maastricht Antiques Fair, at the stand of the Madrid antique dealer Caylus, with a sale price of

In addition to the theme,

is closely related to Zaragoza, in whose provincial museum it was presented on May 18, 2013,

, in an act led by the then president of the Government of Aragon, Luisa Fernanda Rudi .

Also in attendance was a representative of the

, Fernando Espinosa de los Monteros, who revealed that the painting had been acquired in his day by

and that, given its subject, the family had been unanimous in their desire to deposit it in the Museum of Saragossa.

The Goya that goes to auction for two million euros.

The formula chosen for the deposit in the Aragonese capital was that of the loan, that is,

In this museum it was until 2018 when the

's painting of Cultural Interest (BIC)

, something that disconcerted the owners.

They did not understand what was sought to be achieved with such a declaration, given that the painting already enjoyed

, having been declared non-exportable by the Spanish State.

They suspected a possible

or appropriate it, or at least to reduce their ability to make decisions about the painting.

Against this attempt, the owners fought, won and

, which belongs to the Rosillo collection, embodied by several families from a common trunk.

The painting remained for more than five years in the

until the Aragonese government tried to declare it BIC.

According

, the problem is that he made "a serious mistake", since the law establishes that

by the Government of the nation or by an autonomous community, provided that his residence is established in this

.

As

of the painting reside in the Community of Madrid, they asserted that condition during the

, they lifted the deposit and took the painting on December 13, 2018.

According to the aforementioned sources, after the misstep, the

archived the file on February 14, 2019, without making any noise so that the skid would go unnoticed.

Acquired in the early 20th century

On the day of the presentation,

pointed out that the fact that the Zaragoza Museum was able to exhibit a new work by Goya was due to the "generosity" of

Espinosa de los Monteros Rosillo family, "to whom I express my most sincere gratitude ".

For his part, Fernando Espinosa de los Monteros thanked the good disposition of the

during the transfer process.

And to the management of the museum that made possible the unanimous desire of the family to be able to

, which was acquired by his great-grandfather at the beginning of the 20th century.

It was the

that 'The Apostle Santiago and his disciples adoring the Virgen del Pilar

was exhibited in a museum.

Until then it had always remained in

and had only been shown to the public on the occasion of the exhibition 'Goya and the Infante Don Luis, the exile and the kingdom', held this year at the

.

For this reason, in July 2012 the

workshop carried out a cleaning process on the painting, removing repainting and applying a thin layer of varnish.

It

and is non-exportable.

It was

by the Marquis of Lozoya in 1951 in his article 'Two unpublished Goyas on religious themes' and, later,

specialists such as Gassier-Wilson in 1970, José Gudiol in 1970, José Camón Aznar in 1980 and 1982,

. and José Luis Morales y Marín in 1990 and 1994.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

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