Botin!!!!
Picasso Worth €25m Seized From British-registered Yacht Off Corsica
2015-08-04 12:04:09.708 GMT
Henry Samuel
Aug. 4 (Telegraph) -- French customs seize Head of Picasso's
Young Woman belonging to Spanish banking billionaire from yacht
in Corsican port of Calvi on grounds it is a Spanish "national
treasure" and not allowed out of the country.
A Pablo Picasso painting worth more than €25 million and
considered a Spanish “national treasure” has been seized from a
British-registered yacht moored off Corsica, French authorities
have confirmed.
Head of a Young Woman was seized onboard a vessel off Calvi
on the west coast of the Mediterranean island following “an
attempt to export (the work) to Switzerland”, French customs
officials confirmed in a statement.
The work Picasso painted in 1906 and valued at “more than
€25 million” is the property of Spanish billionaire Jaime Botin,
the largest shareholder of Bankinter and whose great grandfather
founded Spain’s largest bank, Santander. Mr Botin reportedly
bought the painting in 1977 at the Marlborough Fine Art Fair in
London for his personal collection.
He has a stake in the company that owns the yacht where the
painting was found but “was not on board at the time”.
The seizure is the latest chapter a three-year battle by the
79-year-old billionaire, Spain’s 15th richest man according to
Forbes, to take the Picasso out of Spain.
Mr Botin, who was Santander’s vice president from 1999 to
2004, made a formal request in 2012 via Christie’s Iberia to
definitively transfer the work from Spain to London. That request
was denied by the Spanish culture ministry on the grounds that
there was “no other similar work on Spanish soil”.
Mr Botin appealed the decision, arguing that the work was
not technically in Spain anyway as it was hanging in a yacht
called Adix moored at the Valencia Royal Nautical Club under a
British flag. He also argued he was not the direct owner, as the
work was the property of the Panamanian Society Euroshipping
Charter Company of which he is the largest shareholder.
The appeal was quashed with judges citing the 1982 Montego
Bay Convention and stating that “the existence of a ship in a
Spanish port, except in the case of military vessels, is subject
to Spanish law”.
An attempt to export the painting to Switzerland on Thursday
“drew the attention of French officials”, France’s customs
authority said, with agents boarding the boat in the port of
Calvi the following day.
The ship’s captain could only produce two documents
regarding the work of art, the statement said – one of which was
a May 2015 Spanish court ruling labelling the painting “a Spanish
national treasure (which) could under no circumstances be taken
out of Spain”.
French customs officials are now awaiting an official
Spanish request to recover the painting.
The market for Picasso paintings reached new heights in May
when Les femmes d'Alger (Version O) smashed the world record for
a painting sold at auction, fetching a fraction over $179 million
(£116m) in New York.
Brooke Lampley, the head of Impressionist and Modern Art at
Christie's, said before the auction: “There is an incredible
thirst in the market right now for top-quality works by renowned
artists. Pablo Picasso is the most highly recognised figure in
the art world today and this piece is in many ways the
culmination of his career.”
In February, a Picasso stolen from the Pompidou Centre in
Paris was found by a US customs official after it was posted
across the Atlantic disguised as a cheap Christmas present.
La Coiffeuse (The Hairdresser), painted in 1911, was
reported stolen in 2001 when it was discovered missing from the
Paris museum.
It lay hidden for the next 14 years until it turned up in
Newark in December in a FedEx package from Belgium, labelled as
“art craft/toy” with a stated value of $37 (£24) and with the
message “Joyeux Noel” (Happy Christmas).
-0- Aug/04/2015 12:04 GMT
2015-08-04 12:04:09.708 GMT
Henry Samuel
Aug. 4 (Telegraph) -- French customs seize Head of Picasso's
Young Woman belonging to Spanish banking billionaire from yacht
in Corsican port of Calvi on grounds it is a Spanish "national
treasure" and not allowed out of the country.
A Pablo Picasso painting worth more than €25 million and
considered a Spanish “national treasure” has been seized from a
British-registered yacht moored off Corsica, French authorities
have confirmed.
Head of a Young Woman was seized onboard a vessel off Calvi
on the west coast of the Mediterranean island following “an
attempt to export (the work) to Switzerland”, French customs
officials confirmed in a statement.
The work Picasso painted in 1906 and valued at “more than
€25 million” is the property of Spanish billionaire Jaime Botin,
the largest shareholder of Bankinter and whose great grandfather
founded Spain’s largest bank, Santander. Mr Botin reportedly
bought the painting in 1977 at the Marlborough Fine Art Fair in
London for his personal collection.
He has a stake in the company that owns the yacht where the
painting was found but “was not on board at the time”.
The seizure is the latest chapter a three-year battle by the
79-year-old billionaire, Spain’s 15th richest man according to
Forbes, to take the Picasso out of Spain.
Mr Botin, who was Santander’s vice president from 1999 to
2004, made a formal request in 2012 via Christie’s Iberia to
definitively transfer the work from Spain to London. That request
was denied by the Spanish culture ministry on the grounds that
there was “no other similar work on Spanish soil”.
Mr Botin appealed the decision, arguing that the work was
not technically in Spain anyway as it was hanging in a yacht
called Adix moored at the Valencia Royal Nautical Club under a
British flag. He also argued he was not the direct owner, as the
work was the property of the Panamanian Society Euroshipping
Charter Company of which he is the largest shareholder.
The appeal was quashed with judges citing the 1982 Montego
Bay Convention and stating that “the existence of a ship in a
Spanish port, except in the case of military vessels, is subject
to Spanish law”.
An attempt to export the painting to Switzerland on Thursday
“drew the attention of French officials”, France’s customs
authority said, with agents boarding the boat in the port of
Calvi the following day.
The ship’s captain could only produce two documents
regarding the work of art, the statement said – one of which was
a May 2015 Spanish court ruling labelling the painting “a Spanish
national treasure (which) could under no circumstances be taken
out of Spain”.
French customs officials are now awaiting an official
Spanish request to recover the painting.
The market for Picasso paintings reached new heights in May
when Les femmes d'Alger (Version O) smashed the world record for
a painting sold at auction, fetching a fraction over $179 million
(£116m) in New York.
Brooke Lampley, the head of Impressionist and Modern Art at
Christie's, said before the auction: “There is an incredible
thirst in the market right now for top-quality works by renowned
artists. Pablo Picasso is the most highly recognised figure in
the art world today and this piece is in many ways the
culmination of his career.”
In February, a Picasso stolen from the Pompidou Centre in
Paris was found by a US customs official after it was posted
across the Atlantic disguised as a cheap Christmas present.
La Coiffeuse (The Hairdresser), painted in 1911, was
reported stolen in 2001 when it was discovered missing from the
Paris museum.
It lay hidden for the next 14 years until it turned up in
Newark in December in a FedEx package from Belgium, labelled as
“art craft/toy” with a stated value of $37 (£24) and with the
message “Joyeux Noel” (Happy Christmas).
-0- Aug/04/2015 12:04 GMT
