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The Museu de Belles Arts, Valencia has completed the restoration of Corporal Noval by Antonio Muñoz Degraín, which the artist presented at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1910, winning the medal of honour in painting.

Confined to the museum’s storerooms since 1986, the work has now been recovered thanks to the patronage of the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson to mark the first centenary of the death of Muñoz Degraín (Valencia, 18 November 1840–Málaga, 12 October 1924).

Corporal Noval is an oil on canvas measuring 277 x 420 cm, signed and dated by Muñoz Degraín in 1910. The work narrates the heroic action of the soldier Luis Noval Ferrao (1887–1909) during the defence of El Had, a souk in Beni Sicar, near Melilla, during the second Rif War. Noval raised the alarm, saving his fellow countrymen from the attack by the Riffians but causing his own death. The restoration process included the recovery of the original stretcher bearing a label with the painter’s name, now repaired to fulfil its function once again.

The cultural heritage director of the Regional Government of Valencia, Pilar Tébar, thanked the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson for the commitment and generosity extended to the Museu de Belles Arts, Valencia, while the museum director, Pablo González Tornel, said that “public-private collaboration is crucial for culture, as previously demonstrated by the exhibition of magnificent paintings by Joaquín Sorolla from the Masaveu Collection”. Tornel also pointed out that the restoration of Corporal Noval reflects the Foundation’s continuing philanthropic endeavours on behalf of the region of Valencia and the museum.

As part of the permanent collection of the Museu de Belles Arts, the painting now hangs in the hall dedicated to the Valencian artist.