Alex Trelinski
THE Policia Nacional has recovered the fourth of five paintings by Irish-born painter Francis Bacon that were stolen in a mass heist from a Madrid apartment in 2015.
Authorities said the 1989 painting of a man’s head, titled on the back as ‘Study for Portrait of Jose Capelo’ is valued at €5 million.
They were part of a collection owned by Jose Capelo- a close friend of Bacon- who reported the robbery to police in July 2015.
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The latest recovery followed the arrest in February of two people suspected of having received two of the five works by Bacon.
The five paintings stolen were said then to be worth a total of €30 million.
The Policia Nacional said 16 people, including the thieves, have been arrested since investigations began.
A statement said they are continuing the search for the missing fifth Bacon painting and are focusing investigations on Spaniards with connections with criminal gangs from Eastern Europe.
Francis Bacon often visited Madrid, where he spent time studying old master paintings in the Prado Museum.
He became famous for his raw, unsettling imagery which focused on the human form.
His subjects included crucifixions, portraits of popes, self-portraits, and portraits of close friends, like Jose Capelo, with abstracted figures sometimes isolated in geometrical structures
Bacon died in Madrid in 1992, aged 82.
