Spanish police announced they have recovered a stolen painting by British artist Francis Bacon, worth around €5 million.
The 1989 oil, titled “Study for a Portrait of Jose Capelo,” was stolen in 2015 from Capelo’s Madrid apartment along with four other Bacon works and a safe containing jewels and rare coins.
The combined value of the stolen paintings was estimated at more than €25 million, making the theft one of the biggest art heists in Spanish history.
In February, police arrested two people accused of receiving stolen property, leading them to discover the painting at an address in Madrid.
The perpetrators were able to disarm the apartment’s alarm system and make off with the stolen goods without leaving a trace.
So far, 16 people have been arrested in connection with the crime, while three of the other stolen paintings were recovered in 2017. The safe and the remaining painting are still missing.
“Investigations are continuing to locate the remaining work and arrest those in possession of it, with the focus on Spanish nationals with links to organised groups from Eastern Europe,” police said.
Dublin-born Bacon is regarded as one of the great portrait painters of the 20th century. Since his death in 1992, his reputation and the value of his artworks have skyrocketed. His triptych, “Three Studies of Lucien Freud,” sold for $142.4 at Christie’s auction house in New York in 2013.
