MADRID.- The police spanish announced this Thursday that it recovered a painting by Francis Bacon valued at 5 million euros (5.4 million dollars) that was stolen along with four other works by the painter British domicile of an individual in Madrid nine years ago.
The paint It was part of a set of portraits made by the artist, which belonged to the Spanish banker José Capelo.
The works, which were in his apartment in Madrid, had been stolen in 2015, when Capelo was in London.
At that time it was presented as one of the most important thefts of contemporary art in Spain, since the total value of the five paintings was estimated at 25 million euros (about 27.1 million dollars). The thieves also took a safe and jewelry.
The Spanish police recovered three of the five works in 2017. The agents then reported that they had made several arrests during their investigations, and specified that the operation was still ongoing to find the other two.
The investigations led to the arrest of two other people last February in Madrid, suspected of being involved in what happened.
“As a result of these arrests, and as a consequence of different police efforts, one of the two stolen works that remained to be recovered was located in a property in Madrid,” the National Police reported this Thursday in a statement.
Investigacin
Since the investigation began in 2015, the agents arrested a total of: “sixteen people allegedly involved in the robbery, among whom were both the intellectual and material authors of the robbery,” they added, without giving more details about their identities.
The investigation remains open until the fifth and last stolen work is located, as well as whoever has it in their possession, added the National Police.
Born in 1909, Francis Bacon became well known especially for his triptychs. One of them, Three studies by Lucian Freud, It sold for $142.4 million in 2013 at Christie’s in New York, becoming at that time the most expensive work of art sold in the world.
The British painter, passionate about the great Spanish masters Goya and Velázquez, died in the Spanish capital in 1992.
FUENTE: AFP
