Romania, oligarch and royal locked in tug-of-war over El Greco painting
But the early 17th-century painting of Saint Sebastian, which shows the martyr's body pierced by arrows, did not go on sale as planned earlier this year. Instead, it has been stranded at Christie's in New York until all the legal wrangling is resolved. The prestigious auction house cancelled its planned bidding war for the El Greco in February 'out of an abundance of caution' after the Romanian government laid claims to the piece, which it says belongs in its royal art collection.
Claiming to be the 'rightful owner', Romania has sued a company through which Rybolovlev acquired the painting in 2010, accusing the firm of not acting in good faith, according to documents reviewed by AFP. On top of that, a third claim by a descendant of Romania's royal family is being contested in the New York courts, with Prince Paul of Romania seeking to recover a work his father believed was stolen by the communists.
Royal wedding, Orient Express
Romanian authorities assume that the painting remained in the country until 1947, but was then 'unlawfully' taken by the country's former king Michael I on a trip to attend the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II in London. In his complaint, Prince Paul, 76, also accuses Michael I of wrongdoing. By loading the El Greco with 'other valuable items into two boxcars of the Orient Express' and then hiding everything in the vaults of a Zurich bank, the former king practically 'stole' the artwork, his nephew argued.
Paul of Romania - whose father was long regarded as an illegitimate son of King Carol II before being recognized - was never acknowledged as part of the royal family. Holding British, French and Romanian citizenship, the disputed royal has taken refuge in France to escape justice in his home country, where he was sentenced to jail for influence peddling. According to Rybolovlev's company Accent Delight, the communists had authorized Michael I to take the painting with him 'as incentive for abdicating the throne and leaving the country' without causing a stir, as they feared 'public unrest because of his popularity'.
'Historic and irreplaceable'
But shortly after Michael I had returned home, he was forced to abdicate and go into exile in late 1947. He would not set foot on Romanian soil again until 1997. In the meantime, he sold the painting in 1975 to French art dealer Daniel Wildenstein, who later resold it. The piece changed hands a few times before being purchased in 2010 by the company of Rybolovlev, president of the AS Monaco football club.
In the past, the Romanian state had already attempted to recover 'Saint Sebastian' alongside other items from the royal art collection. But its attempts so far have been fruitless. Yet, the government has vowed to continue its fight to reclaim the painting it considers a 'unique part of Romania's cultural heritage'. 'If this unique, historically significant, and irreplaceable painting is sold before Romania can have its ownership claims heard and adjudicated, it would cause immediate and irreparable harm to the State of Romania and its people,' Marcel Ciolacu, then Prime Minister, wrote in a letter submitted to the New York court earlier this year. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Memories of Invasion: Kuwaiti woman recounts painful legacy of 1990
As the anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait approaches, survivors continue to recount stories not just of national tragedy, but of personal loss, resilience, and a determination to preserve the painful truths of the past. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 remains etched in the memory of those who endured its horrors - both those taken prisoner and those who remained behind to face the daily fear, chaos and upheaval. Among them was Ohoud Al-Shuaibi, who had just graduated from university when her life - and that of her country - was suddenly upended. 'Graduation is supposed to be a joyful milestone,' Al-Shuaibi told Kuwait Times. 'But for me, it marked the beginning of one of the darkest chapters of my life. I was only 21 when Saddam's forces invaded my beloved Kuwait.' It was the early hours of Thursday, August 2, when Al-Shuaibi was awakened by her mother with trembling urgency - the nation had been invaded and uncertainty gripped the streets. 'I still cannot describe the shock of hearing that news,' she said. 'It was the ultimate betrayal by a neighbor we had supported and trusted. It felt like a dagger to the heart of every Kuwaiti.' She likened Saddam's invasion to a vile betrayal. 'It was as if a man violated his own brother's wife. That's how deep the treachery ran.' During the seven-month occupation, Al-Shuaibi experienced firsthand the daily struggle for safety and dignity. She recalled being assaulted by an Iraqi soldier and narrowly escaping death while trying to defend her mother from abuse. 'Another time, I was nearly taken simply because I refused to smile at a soldier in the market,' she said. Photos show the destruction during the Iraqi invasion. In this file photo taken on March 26, 1991, two Kuwaiti men walk in Ahmadi oil field next to a burning oilwell set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops. – AFP kuwaiti Ohoud Al-Shuaibi. But some of the most haunting memories came from the suffering endured by relatives. One story that continues to weigh heavily on her heart involves her mother's cousin and her three sons. The two eldest — twin brothers and recent top graduates of a military academy were engaged to be married on the same night. When the invasion began, they burned their uniforms and went into hiding. However, an informant exposed them, and the Iraqi Republican Guard raided their home at dawn. 'They were shot in their beds in front of their entire family,' Al-Shuaibi recounted. Their youngest brother, still in high school, was taken prisoner. 'After liberation, his body was found discarded in the desert. Their mother died of cancer shortly after — grief took her more than the disease ever could.' Al-Shuaibi's own family also had to take drastic steps to survive. Her mother hid her youngest brother in a rooftop water tank to protect him from Iraqi patrols that were abducting young men from the streets. Her older brother, who held a sensitive post at the Ministry of Interior, went into hiding in her home after being betrayed. 'He gave me a kitchen knife. He told me, 'If they find me, they'll humiliate me by taking you. Don't let them take you — kill yourself first.' That was the terrifying reality we lived,' she recalled. Today, Al-Shuaibi's message is one of remembrance and resilience. 'How can we forget?' she asked. 'The fires, the destruction, the looting and the bloodshed — they are part of who we are. We must remember not out of pain, but because it is our duty to pass these stories down to future generations. So, we never forget who betrayed us.' Her voice, firm and unwavering, serves as a testament to the strength of Kuwaiti women who endured the trauma of war. For Al-Shuaibi and many others, the invasion was not just a political event — it was a defining scar that shaped their identity, their families and their nation.
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Terrified by Trump raids, LA's undocumented migrants hide at home
LOS ANGELES: For over a month, Alberto has hardly dared to leave the small room he rents in someone's backyard for fear of encountering the masked police who have been rounding up immigrants in Los Angeles. 'It's terrible,' sighed the 60-year-old Salvadoran, who does not have a US visa. 'It's a confinement I wouldn't wish upon anyone.' To survive, Alberto—AFP agreed to use a pseudonym—relies on an organization that delivers food to him twice a week. 'It helps me a lot, because if I don't have this... how will I eat?' said Alberto, who has not been to his job at a car wash for weeks. The sudden intensification of immigration enforcement activity in Los Angeles in early June saw scores of people—mostly Latinos—arrested at car washes, hardware stores, on farms and even in the street. Videos circulating on social media showed masked and heavily armed men pouncing on people who they claimed were hardened criminals. However, critics of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweeps say those snatched were only trying to earn a meager wage in jobs that many Americans don't want to do. The raids—slammed as brutal and seemingly arbitrary—sparked a wave of demonstrations that gripped the city for weeks, including some that spiraled into violence and vandalism. Alberto decided to hole up in his room after one such raid on a car wash in which some of his friends were arrested, and subsequently deported. Despite being pre-diabetic, he is hesitant to attend an upcoming medical appointment. His only breath of fresh air is pacing the private alley in front of his home. 'I'm very stressed. I have headaches and body pain because I was used to working,' he said. In 15 years in the United States, Trump's second term has turned out to be 'worse than anything' for him. Trump's immigration offensive was a major feature of his re-election campaign, even winning the favor of some voters in liberal Los Angeles. But its ferocity, in a place that is home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers, has taken the city by surprise. Faced with mounting raids, migrants are limiting their movement as much as possible. In June, the use of the public transportation system—a key network for the city's poorer residents—dropped by 13.5 percent compared to the previous month. 'As you're driving through certain neighborhoods, it looks like a ghost town sometimes,' said Norma Fajardo, from the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, a non-profit organization that supports these workers. It has joined forces with other groups to deliver hundreds of bags of food every week to those afraid to step outside. 'There is a huge need for this,' said the 37-year-old American. 'It's very saddening and infuriating. Workers should be able to go to work and not fear getting kidnapped.' In June, ICE agents arrested over 2,200 people in the Los Angeles area, according to internal documents analyzed by AFP. About 60 percent of them had no criminal record. Given the colossal resources recently allocated to ICE by Congress—nearly $30 billion to bolster immigration enforcement, including funding to recruit 10,000 additional agents—Fajardo says she is not expecting any let up. 'It seems like this is the new normal,' she sighed. 'When we first heard of an ICE raid at a car wash, we were in emergency crisis mode. Now we are just really accepting that we need to plan for the long term.' Food assistance has also become essential for Marisol, a Honduran woman who has been confined to her building for weeks with 12 family members. — AFP 'We constantly thank God (for the food deliveries) because this has been a huge relief,' says the 62-year-old Catholic, who has not attended Mass in weeks. — AFP
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Zelensky urges ‘regime change' in Russia
Russia captures town of Chasiv Yardrone, strikes Kyiv, killing 11 KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged his allies to bring about 'regime change' in Russia, hours after a Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv killed 11 people including a six-year-old boy. The overnight strikes reduced part of a nine-storey apartment block in Kyiv's western suburbs to rubble and wounded more than a hundred in the capital, according to authorities. The Russian army meanwhile claimed to have captured Chasiv Yar, a strategically important hillside town in eastern Ukraine where the two sides have been fiercely fighting for months. Moscow has stepped up its deadly aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, resisting US pressure to end its nearly three-and-a-half year invasion as its forces grind forward on the battlefield. Speaking virtually to a conference marking 50 years since the signing of the Cold War-era Helsinki Accords, Zelensky said he believed Russia could be 'pushed' to stop the war. 'But if the world doesn't aim to change the regime in Russia, that means even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilise neighbouring countries,' the Ukrainian leader added. Between late Wednesday and early Thursday, Russia fired over 300 drones and eight cruise missiles at Ukraine, the main target of which was Kyiv, the Ukrainian air force said. One missile tore through a nine-storey residential building in western Kyiv, tearing off its facade, authorities said. AFP journalists at the scene of the strike saw rescuers scouring through a smoldering mound of broken concrete, the belongings of residents scattered among the debris. 'It's a shock. I still can't get my bearings. It's very frightening,' Valentyna Chestopal, a 28-year-old resident of Kyiv, told AFP. Tymofii was woken up by the sound of a missile, 'everything started falling on me. It was terrifying,' said the resident of the Solomyansky district, whose apartment was destroyed and described the experience as 'a nightmare.' Among the victims was a six-year-old boy, who died on the way to hospital in an ambulance, the head of the city's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said in a post on Telegram. The Russian army said it had hit Ukraine's military airfield, ammunition warehouse and drone production facilities with a combined overnight strike using high-precision weaponry and drones. The attack came just days after US President Donald Trump issued a 10-day ultimatum for Moscow to halt its invasion, now in its fourth year, or face sanctions. Russia said on Thursday it had captured the town of Chasiv Yar, which had been a strategically important military hub for Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region. The town 'was liberated by Russian forces', Russia's defense ministry said in a statement, while a Ukrainian army spokesperson rejected Russia's claim as 'lies'. Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko said the Russians 'have full control over the entire northern and eastern part,' of Chasiv Yar including districts that were hardest to get. But that the fighting for the western side was still ongoing, added. He said the situation was 'very difficult' in the town that has been holding up in urban skirmishes for over two years, a record time in the war. Taking control of Chasiv Yar would represent a major military boon for Russia, which has been making incremental but steady territorial gains for months. Home to around 12,000 people before the war but now largely destroyed, the town's capture would pave the way for Russian forces to advance on remaining civilian strongholds in the eastern Donetsk region. These include the garrison city of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, important logistical bases for the Ukrainian military and home to many civilians, who have up to now not fled the fighting. The Kremlin has made the capture of the Donetsk region a priority since it claimed the industrial region as part of Russia in September 2022. Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has not yet commented on the strike or Zelensky's call for regime change. Putin has himself called for Zelensky to be removed from office and has repeatedly questioned his legitimacy. — AFP
