Madrid police have recovered one of the five paintings stolen from an apartment in the city back in 2015. These artworks were taken during a break-in at the home of José Capelo, a Spanish banker and close friend of Bacon, and subject of multiple paintings.
Three of the stolen paintings were found in 2017.
The recovered painting is ‘José Capelo’, c. 1990 and it does not appear within the main listing of numbered works in Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné, 2016. On page 1399, Martin Harrison explains why some of Bacon’s Capelo paintings were not assigned CR numbers:
“These three paintings were reported stolen from the owner’s apartment in July 2015. At the time of writing they have not been recovered.
They were given by Bacon as gifts, and were not photographed on behalf of Marlborough Fine Art Ltd. The illustrations (right) have had to be adjusted, therefore, from low-quality snapshots.
While there is no reason to doubt their authenticity, they were never submitted to the Francis Bacon Authentication Committee and consequently it is not possible to confirm their status. Similarly, the titles and dates assigned to them should be regarded as notional.”
Spanish police are working to try to recover the final missing artwork.
