A word to the wise: no matter how frazzled you are while preparing to leave town for a family vacation, make sure you don’t forget anything on the sidewalk when you drive away. Especially if you are the type of family that takes valuable, framed artwork on road trips.
Andrés Hurtado, a 57 year old man from Murcia, was visiting Seville with his family when an artwork leaning against a garage door caught his eye while on a walk around the city center. He picked it up, particularly taken by the wide gold frame.
Unbeknownst to Hurtado, the painting belonged to a local family and had been reported missing on Saturday, June 27. The owners, accustomed to taking a beloved artwork with them on vacation, had accidentally left it behind, and by the time they realized their mistake, it was gone.
In printed signs posted by the owners, the artist wasn’t named; the missing object was simply described as “a painting of great sentimental value” with a request to contact the police with any information. The owners also offered a reward.
Meanwhile, Hurtado and his family returned home to Murcia where, according to The Guardian, he used AI to research his find, soon realizing that the seaside painting of two sailboats was likely a valuable artwork by the 19th century Spanish Impressionist Joaquín Sorolla. (The large signature in the painting’s bottom right corner could have also tipped him off.) Sorolla had a monographic exhibition at the Prado in 2009, at which point he was described as being one of “the most internationally known Spanish artists of his day and one of the key figures in the history of Spanish art.” Many museums around the world, including the Met, the Getty, and the Musée d’Orsay, own examples of his genre scenes, landscapes, and portraits. There is also a museum dedicated to Sorolla (and his artist relatives) in Madrid, though it is temporarily closed for renovations.
Once Hurtado realized that the painting had not in fact been abandoned, he arranged for the police to return it to its rightful owners, who have a “small present” as a reward. Presumably, it will be of less value than a painting by Sorolla.