A 16th-century wooden bas-relief, stolen in 2010 from the altarpiece of the Immaculate Virgin on the high altar, has been returned to the Monastery of Santa Clara in Fitero, Navarre. The work was returned by the Spanish National Police and the Mossos d’Esquadra to the parish priest of the church, acting on behalf of the Archdiocese of Pamplona and Tudela, the rightful owner of the artifact.
The bas-relief depicts Saint Bonaventure and is a carved, gilded, and polychrome wooden work attributed to an artist from the circle of the sculptor Juan de Anchieta. Its dimensions are 81 x 45.5 x 10 centimeters. The recovery took place last April, when officers located the artwork at an auction house in Barcelona, where it had been listed for sale.
The investigation began with the current owner of the work, who had purchased it at the auction house. The investigation made it possible to trace the bas-relief’s path through the antiquities market: before arriving in Barcelona, the artifact had passed through several buyers and intermediaries, eventually leading back to the Rastro flea market in Madrid, where its journey is believed to have begun after the theft.
At the end of April, the National Police and the Mossos d’Esquadra seized the artwork and notified the competent judicial authority. The judicial authorities ordered the return of the bas-relief to the authorities of the Archdiocese of Pamplona and Tudela, which facilitated the artifact’s return to the religious setting from which it had been stolen sixteen years earlier.
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| Spain: A 16th-century bas-relief stolen 16 years ago from a monastery in Navarre has been recovered |
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