The history of a work of art extends beyond its attribution, artistic quality or most recent provenance. Sometimes, research reveals a connection thought to have been lost, and brings with it a responsibility to act.
Following extensive research by art historian Adrián Contreras-Guerrero, we were able to establish the provenance of Santa Eulalia, by Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos, and identify it as a painting taken from the Church of San Ignacio in Bogotá during the 1980s. The study connected the panel with the church’s Retablo de las reliquias, opening the way for its voluntary restitution.
The painting had been acquired in good faith at a public auction in Uruguay in December 2024. Subsequent research established its original setting, supported by photographs published in Historia del arte colombiano in 1986. The formal handover took place at our gallery in Madrid on 23 October 2025, with Father Santiago Tobón Grajales, rector of San Ignacio, Adrián Contreras-Guerrero and the gallery’s legal adviser, Laura Sánchez Gaona.
For our gallery, this process had a deeply personal significance. We understand the study of works of art as a responsibility towards their history and the communities that have cared for them. When a painting can recover its place within an altarpiece that still survives, its return helps restore the relationships between images, architecture and devotion that are essential to its meaning.
The restitution of Santa Eulalia expresses that conviction. Where circumstances allow, we want to help these ensembles regain their integrity, so that they can be understood and passed on to future generations.
Our commitment to this history continues. We will remain attentive to information that might help locate the paintings still missing from the altarpiece and will collaborate in their identification should new evidence emerge.
Further reading
ARS Magazine — Gonzalo Eguiguren restituye una joya del arte virreinal a Bogotá
23 October 2025; updated 29 October 2025.
University of Granada — Research and restitution
16 November 2025.