French authorities seized a Pablo Picasso painting from a private yacht belonging to a member of a well-known Spanish banking family that was docked in Corsica at the time.
Picasso’s 1906 “Head of a Young Woman” is a unique painting, the only example in Spain from a pivotal period in the artist’s life, according to the New York Times.
Because of that status, the courts labeled it a “national treasure” that should not be sold outside the country.
In the view of Jaime Botín, a member of a wealthy Spanish banking dynasty, the work is simply his personal property.
Purchased in 1977 and kept on his yacht docked along Spain’s Mediterranean coast, it is valued at as much as 26 million euros, or $28.3 million, in today’s booming art market.
