Napoleonic looting of art in Spain
The art looting carried out by the Napoleonic troops and the government of Joseph Bonaparte —imposed by his brother Napoleon— during the Peninsular War (1808–1814) was the most important cultural plunder suffered by Spain.
The Royal decree of 18 July 1809 suppressed the male religious orders and all of their assets were seized by the state, including the artwork.
As they accumulated the paintings suffered damage from humidity and poor storage, but many also disappeared at the hands of the military and the French custodians.
This was the case of Frédéric Quilliet [fr] and his group, Maignien, Napoli and the English G. A. Wallis, commissioned to look for and requisition the necessary pictures, that resulted in so much corruption that in 1810 he was relieved of his position.
Joseph Bonaparte employed the enormous quantity of art accumulated as gifts for his friends, as the active generals in the Iberian peninsula, between them Darmagnac, Caulaincourt, Eblé, Faviers, Sebastiani and Desolles.
Especially the art in silver suffered an extreme looting: small and medium size objects, easily transportables and that they can be melted in ingots without leaving trace.
After the French defeat in the Battle of Arapiles, on July 18, 1812, José Bonaparte decided to leave Madrid and head to France in a huge caravan of more than 2,000 cars, the famous "baggage of King Joseph", to which Benito Pérez Galdós dedicated one of his "Episodios Nacionales" (National Episodes) with that same title.
The battle of Vitoria prevented the entourage from reaching France and Joseph Bonaparte had to flee on horseback and leave all his luggage behind him.
The larger paintings and sculptures were saved from plunder thanks to the fact that General Maucune had been twelve hours ahead of the king's caravan and the objects were able to reach Paris without incident.
Dear Duke: I have accompanied you with the official response that I have received from the Court and from it I deduce that His Majesty, moved by your delicacy, does not wish to deprive you of what came into your possession by means that are as fair as they are honorable.
"[clarification needed] The next day, September 23, Nicolás Minussir, Álava's assistant, along with the painter Francisco Lacoma and 200 British troops went to the Louvre with the intention of recovering the paintings.
The objects were stored at the Spanish embassy in Paris, to be sent to Brussels and then by ship from Antwerp to Cádiz, to avoid transport by land through France and the risk of incidents with the French.
It is estimated that approximately half of the looted works did not return to their places of origin; the vast majority stayed in France.
These paintings mostly ended up in the Louvre, the National Gallery in London, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.
