Search continues for missing Goya etchings at Ateneum Art Museum

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An ongoing inventory at the Finnish National Gallery has revealed that 30 etchings by the world-famous Spanish artist Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) have gone missing.
      The etchings are part of Goya's famous series of graphic art called "Disasters of War" conceived between 1810-1814. The topic of the etchings is the Peninsular War, which resulted from Napoleon's marching his troops into Spain in 1808.
      In its entirety Goya's series consists of 82 prints. The Finnish National Gallery's collection has 80 of them, 30 of which have now vanished.
     
The series of etchings was donated to the Ateneum Art Museum in 1901 as part of the Collan Collection, which consisted of hundreds of graphic prints by various artists.
      "This is the first time a complete inventory of the museum's collections is being carried out", explains Tuula Arkio, general director of the Finnish National Gallery.
      The inventory, which is now approaching completion, has taken two years. By the end of April the inventory's final part, the survey of the graphics section of the Ateneum collections, should be completed.
     
Arkio hopes that the missing works will still turn up.
      "The last sighting of the Goya series is from 1980, when some of the prints were on loan in Iceland. Had something been missing then, it would have been noticed."
      After that the museum's graphics collection has undergone three changes. While the Ateneum underwent a renovation the collection was temporarily moved to its facility at Kansakoulunkatu, and then back again. Later the collection was divided between the Ateneum and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum.
      "When prints get misplaced it is not always easy to find them. Unfortunately things like this happen in every large museum", Arkio sighs.
     
The Finnish National Gallery's drawing and print collection consists of about 19,000 works, 15,000 of which are placed in the Ateneum and the rest in the Sinebrychoff Art Museum.
      The Ateneum's Goya etchings were printed after the artist's death, and they are not considered of prime quality. When on loan to Iceland, each etching was valued at around EUR 330.


Links:
  Finnish National Gallery
  Napoleonic Guide: Goya´s Disasters of War
  The Peninsular War 1808-1814

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