The Supreme Court confirms that the portraits of Carlos IV. and Maria Luisa de Parma painted by Goya belong to the state

The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court issued judgment 480/2026 of March 25, declaring that portraits of Carlos IV. and Maria Luisa de Parma painted by Francisco de Goya belong to the state and not to Altadis SAwhich has been judicially applied to ownership since 2017.

That foul, that takes the dispute into the new yearsevaluates the company’s national and procedural violations and confirms the previous resolution of the Juzgado de Primera Instancia 82 de Madrid and de la Audiencia Provincial.

The square was on fire delivered to Goya in 1789 by the Royal Tobacco Factory of Sevillewith the motif of celebrating the beginning of the reign of Charles IV, forms part of the ephemeral monument installed on the facade of the factory. The sentence is part a person who considers it “incuestionado”: the works form part of the patrimony of the crown and subsequently pass to the state.

A finales del siglo XIX, tras el system change in the tobacco monopolyThe Compañía Arrrendatria de Tabacos (CAT) took over the administration of this monopoly and the receipts, among other goodies, various books and portraits, including the Goyas. A Royal Order of 1896 ordered that the stories be transferred to the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla or if they were returned to the Ministry to decide their fate and the 1921 CAT inventory delivered the documents as transferred to the Ministry of Publicity with public title retained.

With time, squares acabaron colgados en el despacho del director de la CAT in the building on Calle Barquillo de Madrid, yes in the hands of Tabacalera and later than Altadissuccessor of the old state company. Based on this factual situation, Altadis suggests that Goya placed Goya in a public, peaceful and continuous form “within the concept of the duel” for more than a century, and that for him you have obtained your property for usucapión.

This is usucapión

Usucapión, also called prescriptive acquisition, is a legal mechanism that allows a person to transform himself into the owner of real estate for the simple purpose of let it be done for a long time, publicly, peacefully, and act as it was. In the case of beautiful objects (such as paintings, sculptures or objects), the Civil Code requires relatively short periods: three years you have a good name and “just title”, and six years inclusive without these conditions if the function is continued.

The idea behind it is simple: if someone enjoys it for many years in front of everyone, takes care of it, uses it and claims it with a better ass, the order now consolidates this situation and recognizes ownership. However, there are very clear limitations: usucapión only works when the law allows it and it can never be used to appropriate specially protected assets, such as those that form part of the historical heritageas established in Ley 16/1985 on the Spanish Historical Heritage in its article 28. The previous regulations declared the property of the National Art Treasure to be indefeasible and it is forbidden to get involved in the details.

This is exactly what the Supreme Court said in the case of Goya: although Altadis and his predecessors had photographed in his workshops over the decades, his position was not that of an authentic owner until the person held something borrowed or donated, and it was also a matter of work históricas, which the Law of Succession declared non-prescriptive.

Invalid contract

A particularly fine element of the case was el a loan agreement signed in 1999 between the Ministry of Education, Culture and Tabacalera, in which the Ministry accepted that the company was the owner of the “two retracts”.

The Supreme Court recognizes that in this document the state is admitted as the name of the company, but denies effectiveness clear property: treat well-protected people, the state cannot be validly transferred do not lose them through usucapión to be recognized according to legal prohibitions.

As a result, the Supreme Court concluded that the two Goya portraits are state property, and Altadis was ordered to pay the costs recursos and break through deposits established for recurrirr.