Picasso’s €25mln masterpiece seized from yacht off Corsica

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Pablo Picasso painting worth more than and considered a Spanish “national treasure” has been seized from a British-registered yacht moored off Corsica, French authorities have confirmed, according to the Telegraph.

Head of a Young Woman was seized onboard a vessel off Calvi on the west coast of the Mediterranean island following “an attempt to export (the work) to Switzerland”, French customs officials confirmed in a statement.

The work Picasso painted in 1906 and valued at “more than €25 million” is the property of Spanish billionaire Jaime Botin, the largest shareholder of Bankinter and whose great grandfather founded Spain’s largest bank, Santander. Botin reportedly bought the painting in 1977 at the Marlborough Fine Art Fair in London for his personal collection.

He has a stake in the company that owns the yacht where the painting was found but “was not on board at the time”.

French customs officials are now awaiting an official Spanish request to recover the painting, the Telegraph says.