[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-1668025778.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tA Spanish judge has ordered the\u00a0Museo del Prado in Madrid\u00a0to hold onto a painting attributed to\u00a0Diego Vel\u00e1zquez\u00a0at the center of a divorce dispute between steel magnate Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Aristrain and his ex-wife Gema Navarro, according to\u00a0El Pa\u00eds<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe painting ended up at the Prado through a chain of state intervention. After Navarro filed a complaint alleging the work had been wrongly kept from her, a Madrid judge, acting with the support of prosecutors, ordered Spain\u2019s Ministry of Culture to take custody of it citing its potential importance to the country\u2019s historical heritage. The ministry then designated the Prado as custodian. The work was removed from Aristrain\u2019s Madrid residence and transferred to the museum\u2019s storage on March 17, where it will remain until ownership is resolved.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAt the center of the dispute is a portrait of Philip IV linked to Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s early years in Madrid. A different version of the composition hangs in the Prado, and scholars have long debated whether this example is an autograph replica. Some experts have pointed to brushwork consistent with the artist, while others have raised concerns about its condition and past restoration.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe painting, now held by the Prado, has previously surfaced at auction. It failed to sell in Madrid in 2007 with a $2.9 million starting price, amid doubts over its attribution. It reappeared in 2015 with a much lower estimate and was acquired for \u20ac878,000 by Navarro, using her own funds, according to\u00a0El Pa\u00eds<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAlthough the couple were married under a separation-of-property agreement, the work remained in Aristrain\u2019s home after their split, prompting the complaint. With access to the painting contested, the court moved to place it under state control rather than leave it with either party.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tFor now, the Prado is not exhibiting the work so much as safeguarding it, turning a private divorce into a public custody battle over one of the few Vel\u00e1zquez paintings still outside institutional hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/prado-to-hold-disputed-velazquez-in-divorce-case-1234782830\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-1668025778.jpg?w=1024″] A Spanish judge has ordered the\u00a0Museo del Prado in Madrid\u00a0to hold onto a painting attributed to\u00a0Diego Vel\u00e1zquez\u00a0at the center of a divorce dispute between steel magnate Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Aristrain and his ex-wife Gema Navarro, according to\u00a0El Pa\u00eds.\u00a0 The painting ended up at the Prado through a chain of state intervention. After Navarro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1910603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1910603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1910603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1910603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1910603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}