Valuable Joaquín Sorolla Painting Mistaken for Junk, Then Recovered

The mystery of a small and very valuable picture by the Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla that vanished over the weekend has been solved after a man told police he had mistaken the painting for junk when he found it on a Seville street but rescued it because he liked the frame.

Rather than being entranced by the painting’s subject matter – two boats off a beach – Andrés Hurtado was instead captivated by its handsome gold frame.

What Hurtado, 57, did not know when he happened across the work last Saturday was that it was a painting by Sorolla, a late 19th- and early 20th-century Spanish artist renowned for his mastery of light and his beach scenes.

Nor did he know that the painting belonged to a Seville family who have owned it for many years, and who were in the habit of taking it on holiday with them. They had intended to pack the picture into the boot of their car as they headed to the beach but had accidentally left it leaning against a wall and driven off.

By the time they realised what had happened, the painting was gone. Despite putting up posters appealing for information to help them locate “a painting of great sentimental value” – but carefully avoiding any mention of Sorolla or the picture’s value – they drew a blank until Tuesday.

It has subsequently emerged that Hurtado, who lives 325 miles (525km) away in Murcia, had found the painting while in Seville with his family for the weekend and assumed someone had thrown it out.

“We picked it up because of the frame, not because of the painting,” he told Radio Sevilla on Wednesday. After taking it back to Murcia, he set about researching the picture using AI and learned that it could be a Sorolla.

“The AI came up with some crazy prices, so I looked online and called an auction house in Madrid,” Hurtado told El Mundo. “I sent them pictures and they came back to me very quickly, saying it was an original Sorolla.”

But his time with the painting – valued at up to €150,000 (£130,000) – was short-lived. When news reached him of the “stolen” painting, complete with a picture supplied by the owners, he knew what he had to do.

“I rang the police straight away and told them the news wasn’t true,” he told the paper. “I told them I hadn’t stolen it but just picked it up in the street.”

Police have now returned the painting to the family in Seville, who have promised Hurtado a “small present” by way of thanks.

“They told me there was a lot of traffic [on Saturday] and that all the other cars were beeping at them,” he said. “They got anxious and left the painting leaning against the wall.”

It was not the first time in recent months that a valuable Spanish work of art had suffered a transport hiccup. In October last year, police set about searching for a small Picasso still life worth €600,000after the painting appeared to vanish while en route from Madrid to an exhibition in Granada.

The painting was recovered three weeks later after police discovered it had never left Madrid and had been inadvertently scooped up by one of its owner’s neighbours who had mistaken it for a forgotten delivery and taken it in for safekeeping.