Irish-born artist Francis Bacon's painting "Study for Portrait of Jose Capelo" has been recovered after being stolen in 2015, Policía Nacional (Spain's national police force) announced on Thursday, May 23.
The painting, worth an estimated €5 million ($5.4 million), was one of five paintings by the Irish-born artist stolen during a robbery in July 2015.
The 1989 painting, entitled "Study for Portrait of Jose Capelo," is the fourth of the five stolen paintings to be recovered after three of the paintings were found in 2017.
In a statement on Thursday, Policía Nacional said its agents located the stolen painting after determining that two citizens living in Madrid possibly had the painting in their possession.
Police said the investigations, which began after the robbery in 2015, led to the arrests of two people in Madrid last February who police said were responsible for the crime of receiving two of the stolen paintings.
As a result of the arrests and the police's continuing investigations, Bacon's painting "Study for Portrait of Jose Capelo" was located in a property in Madrid.
Police noted that since the investigation began in 2015, 16 people allegedly involved in the theft of the five paintings have been arrested.
Four of the five paintings that were stolen in 2015 have now been recovered.
Police added that the investigation remains open in order to locate the remaining work and that they are focusing on Spanish citizens who maintain relations with organized groups from Eastern Europe.
🚩Recuperado un #cuadro de Francis Bacon valorado en 5.000.000 de 💶 sustraído en #Madrid en 2015
➡️Se trata de la cuarta obra de #arte recuperada de las cinco que fueron robadas en un domicilio de #Madrid en el año 2015, valoradas en 25 millones de💶 pic.twitter.com/EKu0bPVssT
— Policía Nacional (@policia) May 23, 2024
Reuters reported on Thursday that Spanish media reported that the paintings were stolen from the apartment of Jose Capelo, Bacon's friend and former lover. However, Spanish police refused to confirm or deny those reports.
Bacon, who was born in Dublin in 1909, died in the Spanish capital of Madrid in 1992 at the age of 82.
Renowned for his disturbing visions of the human body, Bacon is one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century and the value of his works has increased significantly since his death 32 years ago.
His paintings, which often depict visceral and violent images of popes, crucifixions, and faces and bodies twisted in agony, continue to fascinate art connoisseurs and fetch huge sums at auctions.
The Irish-born artist often visited Madrid, where he spent time time studying old master paintings housed in the city's Prado Museum.
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