Romania has marked a new milestone in its quest to recover the painting ‘Saint Sebastian’ by El Greco through the suspension of the auction scheduled at Christie’s New York until the completion of due legal proceedings, the ministry of finance and deputy prime minister, Tanczos Barna announced on Monday the.

Thus, the masterpiece painted by El Greco, missing from Romania’s national collection, will remain at the Christie’s auction house in New York until Romania’s requests for recovery are resolved by the relevant courts. Christie’s withdrew the painting from the Old Masters auction planned for 2025, where it was listed as the main piece, after being notified that the work is legally the property of Romania.

„Romania has achieved a new important success in the procedures for recovering the painting ‘Saint Sebastian,’ thanks to the joint efforts of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture. By the fact that the auction scheduled at Christie’s New York was suspended until the completion of due legal proceedings, there is a guarantee that it will be kept safe until the final recovery efforts are completed. Legal proceedings were initiated as early as January 2025 and an international team of lawyers selected by Romania was mandated with the mission of ensuring the recovery of El Greco’s painting, as it belongs to the national cultural heritage of the Romanian State,” said the minister of finance and deputy prime minister, Tanczos Barna, in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Monday.

The Ministry of Finance mentions that, in the beginning of this year, Romania filed an action with the courts in New York to recover the painting, and on May 30, 2025, it obtained the long-term freezing measure.

„Romania’s efforts to recover this important painting – which belonged to the first king of Romania before being donated to the Romanian state – and to bring it back in the national collection now have the guarantee that they will be heard by the courts in New York,” the press release said.

AGERPRES