Two Paintings “Lost” For A Century Recovered Days Before Auction

Two 17th-century oil paintings that have been missing for nearly 100 years have been recovered by police just days before they were due to go under the hammer.

Footage released by the Spanish National Police shows the paintings after they were recovered in Sevilla, in the Spanish region of Andalucia, on 20th May.

The two oval, oil-on-pine works depict biblical scenes and are attributed to Lucas Valdes, a noted figure of 17th-century Sevillian Baroque painting.

They had originally adorned the main altarpiece of the church of the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes and were loaned out in 1929 for display at the Ibero-American Exhibition in Seville.

When the exhibition wound up in 1930, the paintings were never returned and their whereabouts remained unknown for decades.

The Spanish authorities began an investigation in September 2025, after the Archdiocese of Seville flagged the works to Spain’s Ministry of Culture, which alerted the Police upon discovering them listed in the catalogue of a “well-known” auction house.

Officers from the Historic Heritage Brigade conducted a documentary and artistic analysis to establish that the pieces matched those that had vanished from the church.

Once their provenance was confirmed, detectives temporarily seized the paintings, halting their sale while questions of ownership are legally resolved.

Investigators subsequently identified the individuals who were in possession of the works and informed them of the paintings’ legal and heritage standing.

Mediation between those parties and the Archdiocese ultimately led to the paintings being relinquished voluntarily to the Archdiocese.

The two paintings were formally returned at a ceremony held at the church of the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes.