The Alcalá Subastas room in Madrid announced that on June 23 a canvas by the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya will be auctioned. It is the renowned work “Apparition of the Virgen del Pilar to the Apostle Santiago and his disciples”, of 107 by 80 centimeters. The starting price is two million euros. From June 10, the work can be seen in the exhibition that will be carried out by the organization. From Alcalá Subastas they assured that the piece is in very good condition since the workshop of the Prado Museum was in charge of its restoration, when they presented it in 2012 at the Royal Palace.
“Apparition of the Virgin of the Pillar to the Apostle Santiago and his disciples”. Source: Europa Press
Then, from 2013 to 2018, the painting was part of the exhibition of the Goya Museum in the city of Zaragoza, in the north of the country. Finally, in 2022 someone will be able to become the owner of the work. In any case, the main characteristic of the auction is that the piece has an unexportable character, which means that it cannot leave Spain. The creation of Francisco de Goya came to light publicly in 1951, when the Spanish journalist Juan de Contreras y López de Ayala made it known in an article he called “Two unpublished Goyas of religious theme”.
