PROPERTY SEARCH
Murcia man rescues €150,000 painting from the street because he liked the frame
Andrés Hurtado had no idea what he'd found on a Seville street until AI told him it might be worth a fortune
A Murcia man who picked up what he thought was a piece of abandoned junk on a Seville street turned out to have a €150,000 painting by one of Spain's most celebrated artists tucked under his arm.
Andrés Hurtado, 57, was visiting Seville with his family last weekend when he spotted the small painting propped against a wall and assumed someone had thrown it out. His reason for rescuing it had nothing to do with the artwork itself.
"We picked it up because of the frame, not because of the painting," he explained.
What Mr Hurtado didn't know was that the work was by Joaquín Sorolla, the late 19th and early 20th century Spanish master renowned for his luminous beach scenes, and that it belonged to a Seville family who had been taking it on holiday with them for years.
In the chaos of loading the car, they'd accidentally left it leaning against a wall and driven off. By the time they realised and came back for their precious painting, it was gone.
The family put up posters appealing for help locating "a painting of great sentimental value," carefully leaving out any mention of Sorolla or what it might be worth. They heard nothing until the following Tuesday.
Back home in Murcia, Mr Hurtado had been doing a little digging of his own. Using AI to research the picture, he quickly realised he might be sitting on something rather special.
"The AI came up with some crazy prices, so I looked online and called an auction house in Madrid," he said.
"I sent them pictures and they came back to me very quickly, saying it was an original Sorolla."
His excitement was short-lived. When news of the "stolen" painting reached him along with a photo supplied by the owners, he put two and two together immediately.
"I rang the police straight away and told them the news wasn't true," he said. "I told them I hadn't stolen it but just picked it up in the street."
The painting has since been returned to its relieved owners, who explained that heavy traffic and impatient drivers had frazzled their nerves on the day.
"They told me there was a lot of traffic and that all the other cars were beeping at them," Mr Hurtado said. "They got anxious and left the painting leaning against the wall."
It's not the first time a valuable Spanish artwork has gone on an unplanned adventure recently. Last October, a Picasso still life worth €600,000 briefly vanished while being transported from Madrid to an exhibition in Granada, only to turn up three weeks later after a neighbour had mistakenly taken it in thinking it was a forgotten delivery.
Image: Andrés Hurtado on Facebook
