BARCELONA, Spain — Núria Rivero, an art historian, gave a tour one recent day of a sumptuous mansion from Barcelona’s own bygone gilded age, one now owned by the city. But to her frustration, much of it was about what was not on the walls, instead of what was.
A nail hole here. Some more over there. Discolored outlines of frames. All of it, she believes, the telltale signs of where paintings once hung.
And not just any paintings. Some of them were probably masterpieces by Rembrandt, El Greco and Goya, she and the city claim, as well as Flemish tapestries and other objects — as many as 658 in all.
“The real problem is not repairing some stitching,” said Ms. Rivero as she examined a Flemish tapestry from the 16th century in the entrance hall, “but the fact that we’ve only found seven of the 14 tapestries that should be here.”
The missing 352 paintings and drawings, together with tapestries and other works, constitute an art heist on a grand scale, according to the city. It is alleging theft and fraud in a criminal case against the four daughters of Julio Muñoz Ramonet, a Catalan industrialist who bequeathed the property to his native city of Barcelona when he died in 1991.
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Depending on which of the allegedly missing works it can recover, the city is considering transforming the main house into an arts center.
The smaller house could be showcased as “an example of how the bourgeoisie once lived, in a Barcelona that has almost completely disappeared and been transformed,” said Jaume Ciurana, the city’s councilor for culture.
Asked whether Mr. Muñoz Ramonet’s fall from grace and his longstanding support for the Madrid politicians of the Franco regime would taint the city’s ambitions for the site, Mr. Ciurana took a diplomatic approach.
“I’m not here to judge the contradictions in the life and work of Muñoz Ramonet, but to make sure that the city gets full usage of the incredible gift that he left for his city,” he said. “This isn’t about politics but about enriching Barcelona’s patrimony.”
A version of this article appears in print on January 22, 2015, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Disinherited Daughters Battle Their Father’s City Over Missing Artworks. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
