Dictator Was A Secret Artist

Oil paintings that reveal a softer side to former dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain for nearly four decades, will be auctioned next month. The landscapes were a gift from the general`s wife to the father of an art gallery owner in Seville. "These are three paintings by an amateur but there are certain quality elements, and they have an undeniable historical value," the gallery`s said director Ramon Garcia Ramo. All these characteristics make these art works attractive to the collector." The paintings, signed with the pseudonym Girones, have an opening price of 9,000 euros. For the full story - click the title Irish Art