“Saint Sebastian” by El Greco considered Romanian heritage remains, for the time being, at Christie’s
“Saint Sebastian” by El Greco (Crete, 1541 – Toledo, 1614) considered Romanian heritage remains at Christie’s auction house in New York until Romania’s requests for recovery are resolved by the competent courts, the Ministry of Finance announced on June 16.
The sale of the painting was blocked at Christie’s by the Romanian state, according to an announcement made on January 31, 2025 by then Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.
The painting, an oil on canvas measuring 90.2 x 70.5 cm, had received an estimate of 7 million to 9 million dollars. It was listed on the auction house’s website as the property of a distinguished private collector.
Hidden from the public eye for more than four decades, this Saint Sebastian is a late masterpiece by one of the best-known painters of the early modern era, Doménikos Theotokópoulos, nicknamed El Greco. Expressively executed in the established style and dated 1600-1605, it can be identified as one of two works on this subject in the artist’s studio at the time of his death in 1614.
It is one of three depictions of St Sebastian by El Greco that exist today. One is in the cathedral of Palencia (dated 1577-1578) and another in the Museo del Prado (dated 1610-1614), each marking a different moment in his career.
Missing from the national collection
“Romania has achieved another important success in the recovery of the painting ”Saint Sebastian”, thanks to the joint efforts of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture. With the suspension of the scheduled auction at Christie’s New York, extended until the finalization of the legal proceedings, there is a guarantee that it will be kept safe until the final recovery efforts are completed. As early as January 2025, the legal steps were initiated and an international team of lawyers selected by Romania was mandated with the mission of ensuring the recovery of El Greco’s painting, as it belongs to the national cultural heritage of the Romanian State. Having disappeared from the national collection, the painting must be returned to Romania and reunited with the national collection at the Romanian National Museum of Art in Bucharest. The recovery of this masterpiece, which belongs to the Romanian heritage, will continue to be vigorously pursued,” Deputy Prime Minister Tánczos Barna, Minister of Finance, said.
Earlier this year, Romania filed an action in the New York courts to recover the painting, and on May 30, 2025, it obtained the long-term measure of unavailability.
The consigner of the painting and a person named Paul Philippe of Romania claim to be the owners of the work of art, the ministry added. “Romania’s demands for the recovery of this painting – which belonged to the first king of Romania before it was bequeathed to the Romanian state – and for its reunion with the national collection are now guaranteed to be heard by the New York courts.”
Official provenance
As to the provenance of the painting in the auction, the Christie’s website stated: from the artist’s studio in Toledo at the time of his death, it is included in the post-mortem inventories of April 12 and July 7, 1614 and passed through descent to his son; later, Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli (1578-1631), Toledo, appears as the owner, the painting being included in his inventory of August 7, 1621.
King Carol I of Romania (1839 – 1914) is mentioned to have kept it at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest until 1898, and bequeathed it to the Romanian Crown Institution in his will of February 14 and 26, 1899. It was owned by the Romanian Crown from 1914 to 1947, then the property was transferred to King Mihai I of Romania (1921-2017) on November 11-12, 1947, with the consent of the Romanian government, which sold it in 1976 to Wildenstein & Co. of New York. The current anonymous owner bought it in 2010 through Giraud Pissarro Ségalot, New York.
The work has been publicly exhibited, according to the auction house, at Wildenstein Paris, “Exposition organizée par la Gazette des Beaux-Arts: El Greco” in 1937, and at the Museo del Prado, Madrid; National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; The Toledo Museum of Art; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, from 1 April 1982 to 6 February 1983.
