Spanish police recover three Francis Bacon paintings stolen in £22m heist
The three works were among five paintings by the Dublin-born British artist stolen from a Madrid manor home in 2015.
Wednesday 19 July 2017 15:46, UK
Police in Spain have recovered three Francis Bacon paintings stolen in a multimillion-pound heist.
The works were among five paintings by the Dublin-born British artist stolen from a manor home in Madrid in July 2015.
The five paintings, estimated to be worth more than €25m (£22.1m), were part of a collection owned by Jose Capelo, a close friend of Bacon's who inherited a number of works after the artist's death in 1992.
Mr Capelo was reportedly in London at the time of the raid.
In May 2016, police arrested and bailed seven suspects over the thefts.
Three other people were arrested in January after police raided homes in Madrid and seized arms, safe-cracking manuals and oxy-fuel cylinders used for cutting metal.
Police did not comment on which works were recovered or how they were found.
Francis Bacon is regarded as one of Britain's greatest recent painters, with some of his pictures achieving record amounts at auction.
His expressionist-surrealist works are often raw and emotional - many referencing his experiences working for London's civil defence during World War Two - and remain hugely sought after.
In November 2013, Bacon's triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud became the world's most expensive artwork sold at auction, when it fetched $142.4m (£109.25) at Christie's in New York.
It was succeeded in 2015 with the sale of Picasso's Les Femmes d'Algers, which went for $179m (£137.3m) after fees.