The Ministry of Culture has returned the painting seized by the Franco regime to the Francisco Giner de los Ríos Foundation Don Francisco Giner de los Ríos, childpainted by Manuel Ojeda y Siles between 1851 and 1852, which until now was kept in the National Library of Spain. This is the first restitution carried out after the administration led by Ernest Urtasun published six months ago a list of 5,126 seized works and opened the way for those who located an object of their ownership to be able to claim it. The inventory included a wide range of pieces such as jewelry, tableware, spoons, ceramics, paintings, sculptures, furniture and liturgical ornaments.
Most of them came from seizures carried out by the Artistic Heritage Seizure and Protection Board created by the Government of the Second Republic to temporarily safeguard artistic assets from the damage of the war. Of all the state art galleries, the Museum of Decorative Arts is the one that contained the most works, with more than 1,700; followed by the National Museum of Romanticism with 1,495 and the National Archaeological Museum with 1,156.
“This is proof that dreams come true, that some of the struggles have results,” declared this Thursday José García-Velasco García, president of the institution that safeguards the legacy of the Free Institution of Education. The Franco regime declared this entity illegal in 1940, understanding it to be included in Decree 108, of September 13, 1936, considering it opposed to “the forces that cooperate with the national movement.” The rule provided for the seizure of all its assets and that these would be assigned to the Ministry of National Education for “the fulfillment of its cultural purposes in the manner that its owner deems appropriate.”
The canvas Don Francisco Giner de los Ríos, childhas remained without interruption in the National Library. Its director, Óscar Arroyo Ortega, issued an order on October 18 to initiate the file for its return. In his inventory record dated March 29, 1985, it is indicated that he belonged to the Free Educational Institution and that he entered the institution through the mediation of the Board of Seizure and Protection of Artistic Heritage.
The restitution of this painting is the first of an asset seized by the Franco regime carried out by the Ministry of Culture, but not the first. The initial one took place in 2022, the year in which the heirs of Ramón de la Sota managed to recover two paintings that hung in the Parador de Almagro, thanks to the change in criteria of the General State Attorney’s Office and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism .
Compliance with the Democratic Memory Law
As explained by the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, the painting was found in “precarious conditions, at the bottom of a closet in the Library.” “Now he returns home, bringing in the eyes of this child, the enthusiasm, wisdom and dignity of compliance and duty with the memory and culture of this country,” he stated. With the publication of the inventory, the Ministry of Culture became the first to comply with the Democratic Memory Law. Urtasun has highlighted that, in this case, “the fulfillment of a legal obligation is a gesture of reparation full of meanings”, starting with the “recognition of an entity like the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, whose educational and cultural project impregnated with hope democracy.”
“This painting is small in its format, but large and decisive in its meaning,” he defended, “it is part of the firm will of this Ministry of Culture and the Government of Spain, to enforce the spirit and letter of the Law of Democratic Memory, and repair so long later, the true status and ownership of a heritage that was violated and plundered by the dictatorship.”
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