A dispute between the Romanian communists and Romania’s late King Michael I has been revived after Christie’s were forced to pull an El Greco work from a sale earlier this year
Romania has secured what is known as “long-term hold” on the El Greco painting Saint Sebastian, pulled from a Christie’s sale in New York in February, art site Artnews reported.
Romania claims to be the rightful owner of the work in a dispute that dates back to the period when the communists took over Romania, and the last king was forced into exile, leaving the country in the depths of winter with his mother and some possessions including art on a train bound for Switzerland.
The Romanian government is claiming that the priceless masterpiece was illegally removed from Romania in 1947 by King Michael when the Communists forced him to abdicate and flee the country. Romania’s late king, who died in 2017, claimed he owned the painting and other works which were left to him by his great uncle, King Carol I. He said the claims were part of a smear campaign against him and the Romanian monarchy which ruled Romania from 1888 to 1947.
When the communists came to power at the end of World War II, they confiscated Romanian private property, real estate and assets on a national scale. Since the 1989 anti-communist revolution, the law courts and governments have returned property and real estate with limited success.
The masterpiece, estimated to be worth between $7-9 million was billed as the top lot at the Christie’s Old Masters February sale before it was dramatically pulled from sale over the dispute.
A catalogue published by Christie’s stated the painting remained in Romania until about 1976, when it entered the holdings of Wildenstein & Co. gallery in New York.
In the 1980s, the Romanian government lobbied for the restitution of the painting and several others which they claimed were illegally removed by the exiled king.
Christie’s provenance stated that “ownership transferred to King Michael I of Romania (1921-2017), 11-12 November 1947, with the accord of the Romanian government, by whom sold to the below in 1976, with Wildenstein & Co., New York, in 1976”.
Saint Sebastian was reportedly acquired in 1898 by King Carol I of Romania, who bequeathed it the following year to Royal Crown of Romanian.
But Romania’s finance ministry claimed “there is no document on record of a valid accord of the Romanian government that would have transferred ownership of the painting in 1947”.
Background
Saint Sebastian (1610-1614) was removed from auction after the Romanian government, filed a claim saying the painting was “unequivocally the property of the Romanian state.”
Court filings now reveal the owner of the El Greco is Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Monaco-based Russian billionaire who consigned Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and sold for a record-breaking $450 million in 2017.
Rybolovlev reportedly acquired the El Greco work from Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier in 2010 through Accent Delight, his British Virgin Islands-incorporated offshore company used for art dealings.
Romania’s government claims in its suit that Christie’s records were “misleading,” as they state Rybolovlev acquired the work directly from the dealer Giraud Pissarro Ségalot and left out Bouvier’s involvement.
A Christie’s spokesperson at the time said the auction house “takes these matters seriously” and withdrew the lot out of an “abundance of caution” pending the resolution of the legal dispute over ownership.
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