Valencia (EFE)
The Historical Heritage Group of the Generalitat Police has intervened four false Goyas and a false Velázquez, accompanied by abundant documentation also falsified to deceive and gain the trust of private buyers.
The investigation began at the beginning of the year, when it was found that those investigated were offering the works to different buyers through various art dealers in the provinces of Valencia and Castellón, as explained by the Minister of Justice, Interior and Public Administration, Gabriela Bravo.
Given the suspicions, the agents consulted Manuela Mena for their originality, considered the greatest specialist in Goya, who corroborated that they were forgeries, while the obligatory technical expert reports have been carried out by the technician David Gimilio, from the Museum of Fine Arts. Arts of Valencia.
The police proceedings were transferred on March 14 to the Investigating Court of Valencia.
intervened works
Among the intervened works are “Portrait of Carlos IV”, attributed to Goya, which was sold for 7 million euros, and “Portrait of María Luisa de Parma, princess of Asturias”, another supposed Goya that went on the market for a value of 7 millions.
In these two cases, the investigation concludes that they are actually altered copies of the portraits of the neoclassical painter Antón Rafael Mengs, whose originals are in the Prado Museum.
“Allegory of the Pilar of Zaragoza”, another supposed painting by Francisco de Goya, was going to sell for 4 million. It is a work of very low quality, which has not even been carried out by a professional painter.
The fourth intervened work is “Portrait of Mariana of Austria”, a false oil on canvas by Velázquez whose market value amounted to 50 million euros. The original is a full-length portrait currently on display at the Museo del Prado.
They have also seized the painting “Blessing of Santa Rosa de Lima”, another supposed Goya that was going to sell for 8 million. The sketch is not by Goya, neither for aesthetics nor for its pictorial quality, and it seems to be an Italian work from the 17th century, from the workshop of Carlo Maratta (1625-1713) or Pietro da Pietri (1663-1716).
The minister has warned that counterfeit art is a crime that hardly generates social alarm in Spain and is one of those that generates the most irregular capital, behind drugs, weapons and prostitution. Beyond the economic value, the most important thing is that this criminal practice favors a devaluation of Spanish creators, in this case, “great plastic artists of our history.”