After more than seven decades, the enigma surrounding the theft of a 17th-century oil sketch by Flemish master Anthony van Dyck has finally been cracked. The long-lost portrait — Portrait of Wolfgang Wilhelm of Pfalz-Neuburg — was stolen in 1951 from Boughton House, the historic Northamptonshire residence of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry. Thanks to the meticulous research of Dr Meredith Hale, an art historian at the University of Exeter, the painting has now been returned to its rightful home.
A Clue in a Harvard Gallery
The mystery first came to light in 1957 when Mary Montagu Douglas Scott, the Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry, stumbled upon the painting hanging in a Harvard University gallery. Its presence there raised serious questions no one at the time had even registered its disappearance from Boughton House, where it had quietly resided since 1682 among a rare collection of oil sketches from van Dyck’s unfinished iconography project.
From Cambridge to Smithfield
The painting had seemingly vanished without a trace, its absence going unnoticed for six years. But its resurfacing prompted decades of speculation and piecemeal investigations none of which fully explained how a priceless work of art could simply slip through the cracks of the art world.
Tracing the Portrait’s Journey
Dr Hale’s groundbreaking work, detailed in a recent article for the British Art Journal, reconstructs the painting’s journey through a web of dealers, auction houses, and collectors that spanned continents. Through archival research in the UK, US, and Canada, she tracked the portrait’s trajectory over three generations.
A Web of Experts and Deception
The portrait’s odyssey involved a surprising cast of figures respected art experts, dealers, and curators all of whom contributed, knowingly or not, to concealing the painting’s true origins. “The theft succeeded in part because of the complexity of van Dyck’s iconography and the audacity of a thief operating under the guise of expertise,” said Dr Hale.
Her research identified the culprit as Leonard Gerald Gwynne Ramsey editor of The Connoisseur art journal and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. In July 1951, Ramsey visited Boughton House under the pretext of preparing a feature article. Instead, he made off with at least one of van Dyck’s wooden oil sketch panels, part of a 37-piece series originally created for use as reference for printmakers.
Motivated by Curtains
In a twist that verges on the absurd, Ramsey’s correspondence with fellow historian Ludwig Goldscheider revealed he planned to sell two paintings to finance the purchase of new curtains. Goldscheider, in turn, provided a certificate of authenticity, allowing Ramsey to sell the stolen portrait anonymously at Christie’s for £189 in 1954.
Across the Atlantic
From London, the portrait made its way to New York, sold to one dealer, and then passed to another who flipped it to Dr Lillian Malcove for $2,700. She eventually donated the piece to Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum the very gallery where the Duchess would later spot the missing work.
Rising Suspicions
When questions emerged about the painting’s provenance, Harvard’s director, Professor John Coolidge, exchanged tense letters with Ramsey, who attempted to claim the work had been purchased at a market in Hemel Hempstead. He even tried to sow doubt about the painting’s authenticity. By 1960, Harvard returned the portrait to Dr Malcove, and after her death in 1981, it was donated once more this time to the University of Toronto’s Art Museum.
Return to Boughton House
Following Dr Hale’s revelations, the University of Toronto’s executive committee voted to return the work to the Duke of Buccleuch more than 70 years after it was illicitly taken. The painting’s repatriation restores a crucial piece to one of the most significant van Dyck collections in the UK.
“Without this painting, the Boughton oil sketches were like a puzzle missing a central piece,” said Dr Hale. “Its return has now restored the integrity of the group.”
Thanks to one scholar’s tireless pursuit of the truth, a chapter of British art history has been rightfully restored, and a long-lost masterpiece is once again where it belongs.
