Protesting Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine, Spain Asks Kremlin To Return Paintings And Armor To Spain

Painting of Emperor Charles V by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz. (Wikimedia Commons/museodelprado.es)

JAKARTA - The Kremlin Museum has returned a painting to Spain's Prado gallery and some armor lent for a postponed exhibition following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, two sources from the Spanish institution said Monday.

The 1605 painting, a full portrait of Emperor Charles V by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, and the collection including the armor the king wore in the painting, were returned with "full cooperation" from the Russian museum, the sources said. The armor is usually on display in the armory of the Royal Palace of Madrid

The Prado Museum and Armory declined to comment on the return of the pieces. Last week, Spain's Culture Minister said the government had asked for the work to be returned in protest at the war.

The Moscow Kremlin Museum has postponed an exhibition entitled 'The Duel: from Trial by Combat to a Noble Crime', which was originally scheduled to open on March 4. The plan, the exhibition will be followed by a number of museums in Europe.

"The Moscow Kremlin Museum is currently working on an exhibition without European participation," the Russian museum said on its website.

Such an exhibition was planned more than a year in advance, one of the Spanish sources who spoke to Reuters said.

Painting of Emperor Charles V by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz. (Wikimedia Commons/museodelprado.es)

Separately, Spanish institutions are coordinating returns with the British Royal Armories Museum, Louvre Museum and the French National Library, which have also lent the items, another source added.

Reuters could not immediately confirm whether works and collections from Britain and France had also arrived in their home countries.

Spain's National Heritage, the agency that handles Spanish royal sites and collections, lent some of the pieces, including a harness designed to be worn by a greyhound, the king's pet and another worn by Philip III when he was a child. All parts have been returned, the source said.

The painting and armor left Russia on March 12, and traveled by land through Finland, Germany and France, they said.

As previously reported, two museums in Milan, Italy will return some artworks borrowed from Russia, following a request for their early return, also following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Hermitage Museum based in St. Petersburg, Russia wrote to the Palazzo Reale Milan requesting the return of two paintings, including the Venetian painter Titian's 'Young woman in a furry hat', which were on loan for an exhibition entitled 'Titian and the image of women in Venice in the 16th century'.

Separately, the Gallerie d'Italia, which operates another museum in Milan, said it received a request to return 23 of the nearly 200 works in the exhibition 'Grand Tour. Dream of Italy from Venice to Pompeii' is currently on loan from four Russian museums.

"Returns will be made towards the close of the exhibition, which is scheduled for March 27," said a spokesman for the bank Intesa Sanpaolo, which has collections at the gallery and two other sites in Naples and Vicenza.

Meanwhile, the Rome-based Fendi Foundation and other museums in the northern city of Udine have received similar requests.