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''The Vision of Saint Anthony of Padua'' is a 1656 oil on canvas painting by
''The Vision of Saint Anthony of Padua'' is a 1656 oil on canvas painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporar ...
, commissioned by the chapter of Seville Cathedral as the altarpiece for its chapel of Saint Anthony of Padua, where it still hangs. It replaced an altarpiece by Bernardo Simón de Pineda.
During the French occupation of Seville in the Peninsula War, the cathedral treasury was sacked by troops under Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult
Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of only six officers in Fren ...
. Murillo's '' Immaculate Conception'' and '' Birth of the Virgin'' were taken and ''Vision'' was almost also taken, but the town council proposed exchanging it for ''Nativity of the Virgin'' and so it remained in the chapel.
In November 1874, it was discovered that thieves had cut out the portion depicting Saint Anthony. Then, in January 1875, a Spanish immigrant attempted to sell the same fragment to a New York City art gallery. The man stated it was a complete original by Murillo, Saint Anthony being one of the artist's favorite subjects. The owner of the gallery, Hermann Schaus, negotiated a price of $250 and contacted the Spanish consulate. Upon securing the sale, Schaus sent it to the Spanish Consulate, which shipped it to Seville via Havana and Cadiz, was returned to the cathedral and added back into the work in 1875 by the restorer Salvador Martínez Cubells.
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