Mengs painting of Santa Cecilia was last seen in Italy 24 years ago.
Spain's Prado Museum has issued an online appeal seeking help to find an 18th-century painting which was last seen in Italy in 2001 but whose whereabouts are now unknown.
The unusual request relates to a painting of Santa Cecilia by the German Neoclassical artist Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) whose works will be exhibited at the Madrid museum in November.
The appeal was launched in Spanish and Italian by Andrés Ubeda de los Cobos, deputy director of conservation and research at the Prado and co-curator of the upcoming Mengs show.
"It is practically already complete with a set of works by Mengs, but we are missing one that would be of extraordinary interest to have in the exhibition" - the expert says - "however unfortunately we cannot find it".
Andrés Úbeda, co-curatore della prossima mostra su Mengs al Museo del Prado, chiede la collaborazione per localizzare in Italia un dipinto di Santa Cecilia di collezione privata, visto per l'ultima volta in una mostra del 2001 pic.twitter.com/46yuVVYmTJ— Museo del Prado (@museodelprado) February 3, 2025
The work, which depicts the patron saint of music with a cello, was painted by Mengs in Rome in 1760, about two decades before his death in the Eternal City.
The painting belonged to a Roman collector, whose identity has not been revealed, and was last seen in 2001 when it was exhibited in Padua and Dresden.
However since then the work has disappeared from the radar of academics and art historians.
"We know that the painting was in Rome in a private collection. I was in Rome and tried to track down the owner at the address we had but we were unable to find it", acknowledged the curator.
"I know that this appeal of mine is not at all usual and perhaps nothing of the sort has ever been done before, but from the Prado we are launching an appeal to anyone who is able to help us locate the work", Ubeda de los Cobos said.
The curator concluded his appeal by saying: "Please, if anyone has seen this painting, if they know where it is or know the owner, please get in touch with the Museo del Prado".