How the Velázquez left Spain
December 21 2023
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Spanish Newspaper El País have published an article delving into the provenance of Sotheby's New York's upcoming Diego Velázquez's Portrait Isabel de Borbón, Queen of Spain. It details the possible routes the portrait left Spain in the early-nineteenth century during the Peninsula Wars and the Spanish War of Independence. It was in the collections of King Louis Philippe I in Paris by 1838, and later entered a British aristocratic collection until it was sold in 1950. According to lawyers consulted by the newspaper, any potential restitution claims by the Spanish state is "very complicated".
