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In a historic act of cultural restitution, Spain has returned seven paintings that once belonged to Pedro Rico, the former mayor of Madrid, nearly 90 years after they were seized during the Spanish Civil War. These works, which were taken for safekeeping by Republican forces during the 1936–1939 conflict, remained in the custody of various Spanish museums throughout the decades of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship and were never restored to their rightful owners—until now.
The formal handover took place at the Prado Museum in Madrid, one of several institutions that had housed the paintings. Rico, who served as mayor from 1931 to 1934 and briefly in 1936, fled Spain after Franco’s Nationalists came to power and died in exile in France. His granddaughter, Francisca Rico, received the paintings on behalf of the family and expressed deep emotion during the ceremony. “They’re finally doing what should have been done long ago,” she said, acknowledging the importance of the gesture in preserving her grandfather’s legacy.
The seven returned works are primarily 19th-century pieces depicting everyday scenes, painted by artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Their return is part of a broader initiative launched by the Prado Museum in 2022, when it published a list of art pieces known to have been seized during the war. This initiative, supported by a national research project, aims to locate and return thousands of cultural artifacts that were never restituted under Francoist rule.
Spain’s Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun described the return as a critical moment of justice and reparation, emphasizing the government’s commitment to righting the historical wrongs inflicted on families during and after the civil war. More than 6,000 items—including not only paintings, but also ceramics, jewelry, textiles, furniture, and sculptures—have been identified as improperly retained. Many of these pieces were originally removed from homes and collections under the guise of protection during wartime, only to become lost or absorbed into state institutions during the ensuing dictatorship.
This latest restitution represents a meaningful step in Spain’s broader reckoning with its past. As the country continues to grapple with the legacy of its civil war and Franco’s authoritarian regime, cultural initiatives such as this offer an opportunity for healing and the restoration of historical memory.
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