The portrait of King Fernando VII that the City Council of Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) commissioned for its premises 216 years ago from the painter Francisco de Goya and that disappeared during the War of Independence (1808-1814) has appeared in the Community of Madrid .
The person who has found its whereabouts is the lawyer and art appraiser Javier Gallego, who has told EFE that the value of the painting – measuring 69 by 60.5 centimeters – is between 15 and 20 million euros, and He has explained his story.
It all began in the summer of 1808, when the Talavera City Council commissioned the painter of Fuendetodos (Zaragoza) to create a half-length portrait of Ferdinand VII at the age of 23, uniformed with the Carlos III sash, insignia and the Golden Fleece, the royal jewel. which in January 2018 Felipe VI imposed on Leonor de Borbón. At that time, many city councils commissioned various artists to create portraits of the monarch, as a sign of loyalty.
The Galarza y Goicoechea Society, a company formed by Goya's in-laws, moved the portrait from Madrid to Talavera by mule at the end of the summer of 1808; However, and according to Javier Gallego's theory, during the War of Independence the painting disappeared since "there was an express order to loot it."
To replace it, the city council asked the painter Vicente López Portaña to make a replica, which is currently in the spaces of the Talavera de la Reina Town Hall.
After the defeat of the French, in 1813, Spain recovered some paintings seized by Napoleon's army, including this portrait of Ferdinand VII, and gave it to the Duke of Wellington, with it remaining the property of England and put up for auction years later. .
In the 1990s, the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIF) published that there was evidence of payment by the Talavera City Council to the painter for the portrait based on a receipt signed in Goya's handwriting, and that is where Gallego's curiosity began. for this matter.
Last March, Gallego received "an enigmatic call from a lawyer" who told him that one of his clients was the current owner of the work, that he had bought it years before, legitimately, at a public auction and had informed the Culture Ministry.
According to Gallego, the tests carried out so far have confirmed that it is that missing portrait: Goya's signature on the frame of the canvas, the seal of Galarza and Goicoechea, the pigment studies, the inscriptions on the obverse of the Duke of Wellington, the payment receipt from the town hall, the delivery receipt and the dimensions.
Another detail to take into account are the x-rays that have revealed a second portrait of Ferdinand VII behind the canvas, which will be attempted to be recovered with artificial intelligence.
"At that time of war, European ports were blocked by the English navy, which caused material shortages and Goya had to reuse paintings," he contextualized.
Gallego has stated that the current owner of the painting intends to exhibit the painting in storage in Talavera for at least three years so that it can be visited, and has added that he has already raised it with the city council and that "there is full agreement for it to be carried out." cape".
It is not Goya's only relationship with Talavera de la Reina. In 2008, as a result of the exhibition 'Goya in times of war' at the Prado Museum, data relating to Leonora Antonia Valdés and her daughter María Vicenta Barruso, two Talavera nobles portrayed by Goya in 1805, were known and published.
Leonora Antonia, from Asturias, married the Rioja merchant Salvador Barruso de Ybarreta and as soon as they got married they moved to live in Talavera de la Reina, where their daughter María Vicenta was born in 1790. Goya portrayed the mother at just over 40 years old. and his daughter at just 15.
In 2008 the two paintings were owned by a London individual, but at the beginning of 2023 they were auctioned in New York for just over 16 million euros, the highest amount for a work by the painter.
Javier Gallego has also stressed that the painter frequented towns near Talavera since "he spent summers in Arenas de San Pedro, was in the Velada Palace and painted the Countess of Chinchón and her sisters, who were born in Velada."
