A Velazquez painting has gone missing for the second time before auction.

On Christmas Eve, the portrait was withdrawn from an auction of old masters without explanation. Photo: ARTGEN/ALAMY

Spanish artist Diego Velazquez's masterpiece of Queen Isabella appears to have disappeared for the second time after it was mysteriously removed from an upcoming auction.

A full-length portrait of Isabella of Bourbon, who became queen of Spain in 1621 as the wife of King Philip IV, was scheduled to go on sale Feb. 1 at Sotheby's in New York with a starting price of $35 million.

But on the eve of Christmas, it was removed from the auction of works of old masters without explanation.

The painting is no longer advertised on Sotheby's website and in the auction house, which is closed for the duration of the work. During the Christmas period, he did not respond to requests to comment on his whereabouts.

Art historians suggested that a museum in the United States could have acquired it.

Considered the most important work by Velázquez to come up for public sale in 50 years, the work had slipped under the radar before.

Painted in the early 1630s, it was part of the collection of the Spanish royal family before being removed from the Madrid palace during the Napoleonic occupation of Spain between 1808 and 1813.

It is unclear who exactly took him from the Spanish capital. There is no record of the painting's whereabouts from the time of its removal until 1838, when it was exhibited at the Louvre in Paris as part of the collection of Spanish art belonging to King Louis Philippe.

Tumultuous History 

Turbulous History of France 19- The 19th century meant that the painting was soon on the move again as the French Second Republic sold off the royal estates, resulting in the painting going to Britain in 1848.

Five years later it was bought. at auction by British banker, art and book collector Henry Huth.

It remained in his family for a century before crossing the Atlantic and changing hands in a series of private sales in the United States.< /p >

Velázquez was a leading artist at the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and his masterpiece Las Meninas is the most famous painting in the Prado in Madrid, Spain's main national art museum.

p>His paintings are rare are offered for public sale, and Velázquez's current auction record is $16.9 million for the smaller Santa Rufina or Saint Rufina, sold at Sotheby's in 2007.