ROMANIA has blocked the sale by Christie’s of a depiction of St Sebastian by El Greco, arguing that it belongs “unequivocally” to the state.

“El Greco’s painting of Saint Sebastian is a unique part of Romania’s cultural heritage,” the country’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, explained on social media. “That the auction has been stopped and the painting retained by the auction house is a first step towards its definitive recovery as the Romanian state’s unequivocal property. After decades, it is time for this irreplaceable painting to return to where it belongs.”

The painting of the early Christian martyr, completed in Toledo between 1610 and 1614, has an estimated value of up to $7-9 million, and was expected to headline a sale of Old Masters in New York, on Wednesday of last week.

A spokesperson for Christie’s told the website Art News that the company responded to “ownership enquiries” with “an abundance of caution”, and still hoped to auction the “unique and spectacular work” at a later date.

In his social-media post, however, Mr Ciolacu said that the Saint Sebastian had been bequeathed to the nation by independent Romania’s first king, Carol I (1839-1914), and wrongly taken abroad by King Michael, with dozens of other artworks, after his forced abdication in 1947.

He said that government solicitors and officials were pursuing its recovery through an international lawsuit at the Court of Justice, in Paris.

The Romanian Culture Ministry confirmed plans on Monday for new legislation restricting “the export of movable cultural goods”.