Goya's engraving stolen in Colombia

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Goya's stolen engraving. File Photo: EFE

19th century engraving by Spanish master Francisco de Goya which had been on loan to a museum in Colombia has been stolen, authorities said, prompting an appeal on Friday for the work's return.

Museum authorities said the engraving, on show at the Gilberto Alzate Avendano Foundation in Bogota was taken on Thursday evening.

Exhibition curator Maria Carolina Potes, urged Colombians to help recover the piece which had great cultural significance. “The work which was taken is part of Spain's cultural patrimony," Potes explained.

The works were on loan from the Goya Fuendetodos Cultural Corporation of Zaragoza, in Spain. Potes said theft of the engraving reflected badly on Colombia as a nation. "Generating the trust so they would lend us that piece for exhibition was not easy, we worked a lot on this, and unfortunately we are looking very bad," she said.

The engraving titled "Sad Premonitions of What Must Happen," was part of a series of 80 engravings entitled "Disasters of War" which Goya created between 1810 and 1815.