Sad Premonitions of What Must Happen, an engraving by Francisco de Goya, was stolen from a Bogota, Colombia, gallery on Thursday. It was on loan from Spain. Sad Premonitions of What Must Happen, an engraving by Francisco de Goya, was stolen from a Bogota, Colombia, gallery on Thursday. It was on loan from Spain. (Fernando Vergara/Associated Press)

Thieves have stolen an engraving by Spanish master Francisco de Goya from a temporary exhibition in Colombia.

The engraving Tristes Presentimientos de lo que ha de acontecer or Sad Premonitions of What Must Happen was one of 80 by the Spanish artist on loan from the Goya Fuendetodos Cultural Corporation of Zaragoza, Spain.

The work, created between 1810 and 1814 in a series Goya called Disasters of War, was part of a temporary exhibition in Bogota's Gilberto Alzate Avendano museum.

Thieves took the work on Thursday, but police have not yet announced any leads.

Museum director Ana Maria Alzate appealed for its return, saying the theft reflects badly on Colombia.

"It's part of Spain's cultural heritage with an incalculable value since it was the first work of a series," exhibition manager Luis Ortiz told Agence France Presse.

The engraving had been due to travel to the northwestern city of Medellin and recently took part in similar exhibitions in China and France.

Goya, who lived from 1746-1828, is regarded as the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.