Fifty years after Franco, Spain begins to give back art seized during the Civil War

Spain’s 2022 law has begun enabling restitutions of art seized during the Spanish Civil War, decades after dictator Francisco Franco’s death in 1975 and nearly 90 years after the 1936 conflict began. The Republican government created the Board for the Seizure and Protection of Artistic Heritage in 1936 to safeguard works, but after Franco’s victory many pieces were confiscated, misappropriated, or never returned. The Museo del Prado has identified 166 confiscated artworks in its holdings, including works by Joaquín Sorolla and Pedro Atanasio Bocanegra, and has led cataloguing and returns in recent years. Last month, the Prado restituted two panel paintings confiscated in 1938 to the parishes of Yebes and Pareja in Castilla-La Mancha, including Christ before Pilate by Maestro de Lupiana (1450–60), which had been displayed in the museum’s Spanish Gothic rooms.

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