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I can also tell you about two paintings we found at the auction house, Durán. One of them was a work by Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante, a Madrid painter from the seventeenth century, which belonged to a series he produced on the Eucharist and which I believe was called Abraham y Melquisedec (Abraham and Melchizedek), if I remember correctly. In theory, it had been destroyed in the fire that took place at the Supreme Court in 1915. But it hadn’t, because it came out on sale and it still preserved its inventory number. We claimed it. But, of course, if the owners have acted in good faith and they put it on sale, you nearly always have to compensate them, because they are absolutely convinced that it belonged to their father, their grandfather, their great-grandfather or some other family member.
The same thing happened with a picture by José Uría y Uría that depicted El arco del rey Casto en la Catedral de Oviedo (The Ark of King Alfonso the Chaste at the Cathedral of Oviedo), which was a deposit that the Museo del Prado made at the Civil Governor’s Residence of Barcelona in 1905. What had happened? Well since the Governor lived at the residence, I imagine that when he left or when he died, the family organised his belongings and brought the painting with them as well. And with the passing of time… because this was in 1905 and the painting wasn’t found until the year 2000. So one hundred years had passed during which the picture had been handed down from generation to generation, until at some point the family decided to sell the painting, which they thought had belonged to the grandfather or great-grandfather. We recovered it at the auction house, also thanks to the intervention of the police. And now the painting is deposited at the Fine Arts Museum of Oviedo, which is the ideal place for it. That is to say, works appear from time to time. A short while ago, a picture by Carlos de Haes popped up, which should have been deposited at the Civil Governor’s Residence of Málaga, but was found in a private collection. We are also in contact with the Police Art Handler team responsible for the theft of artworks. They look at all the auction house catalogues. We have sent them a list of what is missing and, from time to time, we’ve found something.
Conservator of the Museo del Prado since 1982. She began collaborating with the Museum in the 1970's, sorting documents and photographic archives. She documents and visits the depository institutions of works of the Museum, giving rise to the collection known as "Prado disperso" (Scattered Prado).
Interview recorded on April 08, 2018
