The legal dispute over ownership of an El Greco painting that was pulled from a Christie’s New York sale in February, following a claim by the Romanian government that the work belongs to its national collection, is moving forward.
Romania has now secured a “long-term hold”, ensuring Saint Sebastian (around 1610-14) will remain at Christie’s New York “until Romania’s recovery efforts are heard and resolved by the proper legal authorities”, according to a letter shared with The Art Newspaper by Nixon Peabody, the law firm representing the state of Romania in New York in this case.
When Christie’s withdrew the painting from its Old Masters evening sale, the owner of the El Greco painting was not publicly known. Court filings have since revealed him to be Dmitry Rybolovlev—the Monaco-based Russian billionaire best known for consigning the painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, to its world record-breaking 2017 sale, as well as his decade-long legal brawl with the Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier. Rybolovlev, the filings state, bought the El Greco from Bouvier in 2010, via his British Virgin Islands-incorporated offshore company, Accent Delight.
The suit brought by the Romanian government states that Christie’s published provenance is “misleading” as it fails to include Bouvier, instead claiming that Rybolovlev bought the painting directly from the dealer Giraud Pissarro Ségalot.
A Christie’s spokesperson said in a statement on 20 June: “When Christie’s learned of a potential issue we withdrew this property; we are holding it while the parties involved resolve the issue.” Christie’s had estimated the work to sell for $7m to $9m.
Rybolovlev’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.
Contested provenance
Central to the Romanian government’s case for the painting’s restitution is that it was unlawfully removed from the national collection in 1947 by King Michael I as he fled the country to escape Communist forces. From 1977 until 1997, Romanian government officials engaged in a legal battle to restitute the painting and dozens of others he allegedly took in 1947, implicating in the process a number of art world figures, including the gallery Wildenstein & Co, which bought the El Greco work from Michael I in around 1975.
Christie’s provenance notes stated that “ownership transferred to King Michael I of Romania (1921-2017), 11-12 November 1947, with the accord of the Romanian government, by whom sold to the below in 1976, with Wildenstein & Co., New York, in 1976”.
However, the Romanian Finance Ministry claims this determination of provenance is “false” and “unequivocally denies the contention that the painting Saint Sebastian by El Greco was transferred from the Romanian state/government’s collection with its consent or accord”. Moreover, “there is no document on record of a valid accord of the Romanian government that would have transferred ownership of the painting in 1947”.
According to Christie’s provenance notes, the work was acquired by Carol I of Romania probably by 1898 and bequeathed to the Romanian Crown by as early as 1914.
The suit claims that as the work is stolen, it cannot be lawfully sold in New York.
“As it is missing from the national collection, the painting must be returned to Romania and reunited with the national collection at the National Museum of Art of Romania in Bucharest,” Barna Tánczos, Romania’s deputy prime minister, said in a statement. “We will continue to take firm action to recover this masterpiece, which belongs to Romania’s heritage.”
