The Romanian government paralyzes the auction in New York of a ‘San Sebastián’, of Greco, which was going to be held today

The auction house New York Christie’s He has informed the Romanian government that he has ordered the suspension, until February 28, of the auction of a ‘San Sebastián’ del Grecothat was going to be auction today. He is one of the only three ‘San Sebastián’ of Greco. The work belonged to the old collection of the RUMANÍA REAL CROWNand then it went to possession of King Miguel I, who, apparently, sold it to an important Franco-American march. The measure has been taken after the intervention of the Romanian State, which maintains a Litigation in the Paris Court through which he tries to recover this picture, whose value is estimated between 7 and 9 million dollars.

He Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, confirmed the measures taken by the government to block the sale of the table. «The blockade of the sale in auction of ‘San Sebastián’ of Greco, which is part of the Romanian heritage, is a great success of the Romanian State and the lawyer team that represents us. I congratulate the representatives of the Ministry of Finance who are managing this case already all involved in this victory, which gives us the confidence that we will definitely recover, after decades, this picture of invaluable value ». Stressed that it is a Unique heritage piece Cultural and the National Art Collection of Romania. The painting belonged to King Carol ithe first monarch of Romania, before being legacy to the crown after his death in 1914.

«This painting, along with other works of art, He left Romania in 1947 And he has never returned to the country since then. On behalf of the Romanian Government, I have given a mandate, through two memoranda adopted this month, to the responsible ministries and our lawyers so that the recovery of the picture is pursued by the display initiated in the Court of Justice of Paris and the blockade of the expected auction For February 5 in New York for a famous auction house, ”said Prime Minister.

Carol I, who went up to the throne in 1866, began acquiring works for the Royal Large Collection in 1879, with the aim of decorating the royal palaces. With the advice of the scholar and collector Félix Bamberg (1820-1893), the king developed a particular taste for Spanish painting. It had several paintings of the Greco, most of which belonged to the King Luis Felipe de France (1773-1850), from its Spanish gallery in the Louvre. The National Museum of Art of Romania currently has three important works of the Greco: ‘The Bands of the Virgin’, ‘The martyrdom of San Mauricio’ and ‘The worship of the shepherds’.

According to Christie’s, «the property of the picture was transferred to the King Miguel i of Romania in 1947, with the consent of the Romanian government ». The work was sold by the king in 1976 «With the firm Wildenstein & Co.»In New York, and was then bought by the current owner, through Giraud Pissarro Segalot, also in New York, in 2010. Miguel I abandoned Romania in January 1948. The work was exhibited in the Prado Museumin the National Art Gallery in Washington and in the Dallas Museum of Art. He record The auction artist was established in 2013 in Sotheby’s: he sold for 13.9 million euros ‘Santo Domingo praying’.