The Spanish National Police found and identified Pablo Picasso's 1919 painting "Still Life with Guitar," which was considered missing since October 3, when it was supposed to be transported from Madrid to Granada for an exhibition, writes UNN with reference to El Pais.
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Police now believe that the tiny painting, measuring approximately 12.7 x 9.8 cm, may not have been loaded onto the truck at all, but remained in the capital, where it was finally found.
The artwork is a small gouache and graphite drawing on paper, framed and insured for 600,000 euros (697,000 US dollars). According to Ledor Fine Art, which specializes in selling Picasso's works, the piece, considered a minor work by the artist, was sold several years ago for 60,000 euros (90,000 US dollars).
Police had been investigating the disappearance since October 10, when the CajaGranada foundation filed an official complaint after discovering that the painting had not arrived with 56 other works that had been delivered from Madrid.
"Still Life with Guitar" was handed over for safekeeping on September 25 along with the rest of the works that were to be delivered to the CajaGranada Cultural Center. The foundation explained that on October 3, the transport company arrived at the cultural center's premises to deliver the artworks, an operation that was carried out under video surveillance. "Since not all packages were properly numbered, it was impossible to conduct a thorough check without unpacking them," the organization explained.
On October 6, when unpacking began, it was discovered that Picasso's work was missing, and a statement was filed. Shortly thereafter, the Spanish police registered the painting in Interpol's international database of stolen or missing art, which contains descriptions and images of more than 57,000 items.