He thought he'd found a discarded painting with a beautiful frame: it was a Sorolla worth 150,000 euros

What appeared to be the disappearance of a valuable painting by Joaquín Sorolla ended happily thanks to the honesty of a man who, without realizing it, had picked up the work, thinking it was a discarded item to be thrown away. The painting was thus returned to its rightful owners.

The protagonist of the story is Andrés Hurtado, a man in his fifties living in Murcia, who—during a weekend spent with his family in Seville—came across a painting leaning against a wall. Convinced that someone had left it among the trash, he decided to take it, drawn not so much by the image depicted (two boats off a beach) as by the elegant gilded frame. At that moment, Hurtado had absolutely no idea that it was an original work by Joaquín Sorolla.

The painting belonged to a family from Seville, who were in the habit of taking it with them on vacation. Before heading to the beach, the owners had temporarily leaned the painting against a wall with the intention of placing it in the trunk of their car, but, caught up in the rush and traffic, they left without it. Realizing their mistake, they returned to look for it, but the painting was already gone. In an attempt to recover it, they distributed posters asking for information about “a painting of great sentimental value,” deliberately avoiding mention of Sorolla’s name or the work’s monetary value, in the hope of facilitating its return.

Meanwhile, Hurtado had taken the painting back to Murcia. Suspicious of the painting’s quality, he decided to use an artificial intelligence system to identify the artist. The results indicated a very high market value, so he chose to contact an auction house in Madrid and send them some photographs. The experts quickly confirmed that it was anauthentic work by Sorolla, estimated to be worth around 150,000 euros. Upon seeing and hearing the news of the painting’s disappearance, along with a photograph provided by the owners, Hurtado immediately realized that it was the same painting he had found in Seville.

He then contacted the police, explaining what had happened and clarifying that he had never stolen the work but had simply picked it up, believing it to have been abandoned. Thanks to his report, the painting was returned to the family, who decided to thank him with a small reward.

He thought he'd found a discarded painting with a beautiful frame: it was a Sorolla worth 150,000 euros

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