Head of Spanish Auction House Arrested Over Alleged Art Theft
Published May 16th, 2008
The Spanish National Police have arrested the head of an auction who is alleged to have appropriated 13 works of art, one by Joaquin Sorolla. The works of art were valued at 700,000 Euros.
The person arrested, Iturbide, sold paintings to three galleries in Madrid and Barcelona some of those works of art and obtained 225,000 Euros, according to a press release by the Guardia Civil.
The fourteen paintings, one of which is an oil made by Joaquin Sorolla, titled Juerga Andaluza (Andaulusian Party) was valued at 391,000 Euros. The paintings had been deposited by a third party at the gallery that the detained had owned.
Some of the canvases were hidden at the home of the detained and were returned to the gallery a few days before the arrest.
Investigators are making efforts to recuperate the rest of the works of art that were sold and for which the detained obtained 225,000 Euros.
