A church in Mexico has been reunited with a painting of Saint Francis of Assisi, its namesake, that was stolen nearly a quarter-century ago.
Thieves entered the Church of San Francisco de Asis in Teotihuacán, about 25 miles northeast of Mexico City, under cover of night on January 6, 2001, stealing some 18 works of art, including Saint Francis of Assisi (1747), which stands six feet high and had hung in the church for two centuries. Also stolen were seven 17th-century miniature paintings that were integrated in the church’s altar; those remain missing, and the unidentified perpetrators remain at large. The church promptly reported the theft to Interpol, and the work was later listed with the Art Loss Register, which lists some 700,000 missing artworks, antiques, and collectibles.
The painting had been consigned to Mexico City auction house Morton Subastas, which was established (initially as Louis C. Morton Galleries) in 1988 and deals in antiques, modern and contemporary art, jewelry, wines, and other collectibles. It was to be auctioned in 2018, but its status was revealed when the auction house submitted its catalog to the Art Loss Register as part of its standard due diligence procedure.
Painted by an unknown artist, the recovered piece is estimated to be worth 280,000 Mexican pesos ($15,000). The consignor had purchased the work from a Mexican dealer, who claimed the piece had provenance connected to Texas. The culprits may have been part of a sophisticated ring of thieves, as the Teotihuacán church was one of two that were robbed of artworks that month; authorities from the National Institute of Anthropology and History told the Jornada newspaper at the time that the losses at the San Agustín Acolman convent, where 10 18th-century paintings were stolen, were “incalculable.”
Charlotte Chambers-Farah of the Art Loss Register (center) with Padre Teodoro García Romero (left) of the San Francisco de Asis church in Teotihuacán, Mexico and other church officials.
Courtesy Morton Subastas.
“The recovery of our painting is of inexplicable significance to the faith of local people and restores part of the Teotihuacan community’s history,” said the church’s Padre Teodoro García Romero. “For two decades we feared this treasure might be lost forever. Its return is a moment of excitement and faith for our church and city because we know that this will be a historic moment in the life of the community.”
The painting shows the saint in full length, holding a skull in one hand and a crucifix in the other. His bare hands and feet show stigmata, which, according to lore and Church doctrine, he received from an angel after a prayer retreat. A lamb stands at his feet, and in the foreground a tiny figure, representing the patron, kneels in prayer before the saint.
Francis (1181/82–1226) founded several religious orders and drew thousands of followers through his personal charisma and devotion to poverty; he is the patron saint not only of Italy but also of ecology and of animals. He is a prominent figure in Western art, depicted by artists such as Giotto, Giovanni Bellini, Jusepe de Ribera, and Peter Paul Rubens.
The painting’s return comes amid a welter of high-profile thefts of artworks and other valuable artifacts around the globe. The most significant came on a Sunday morning in late October, when thieves made off with $102 million in crown jewels from the Louvre in Paris. The very same day, thieves broke into a French museum dedicated to philosopher Denis Diderot, making off with nearly 2,000 gold and silver coins. Just days later, more than 1,000 objects were pilfered from the off-site storage space of the Oakland Museum of California.
“With thefts targeting public institutions and churches on the rise, this recovery offers hope not only to individual victims but to whole communities as well,” said Charlotte Chambers-Farah, business development and client manager at the Art Loss Register. “It’s a reminder that stolen cultural heritage, which has enormous historic value, can be returned to its rightful home. Morton Subastas should also be applauded for their high level of due diligence standards, which led to the painting’s identification by the Art Loss Register, and their generosity in assisting in its return.”
