Who can tell of the wonders that are hidden in museum storages all over the world?
Away from the public’s eye, masterpieces and exotic art pieces rot away in shelves, boxes or drawers – that is, unless it gets destroyed, lost or stolen – and that is much more common than one can imagine.
Another relevant case illustrating this point is taking place right now in Glasgow, Scotland.
Les Bourgeois de Calais is a very famous sculpture by French master Rodin. There are numerous bronze and plaster versions of the oeuvre around the world.
The statues celebrate the sacrifice of six Bourgeois, local dignitaries who were massacred during a siege of the northern French town of Calais by English armies, during the hundred years war.
A plaster replica of the composite piece was commissioned by the Glasgow municipality, and unveiled in 1895.
Now, one of the statues is gone. Destroyed, lost, stolen? The mission work of art would cost nowadays upwards of $3,6M.
The Guardian reported:
“A statue by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, part of his famous Les Bourgeois de Calais group, is currently ‘unlocated’ in Glasgow’s art collections, museum officials have said.
The plaster sculpture, bought by Glasgow Museums from the artist in 1901, was exhibited in Kelvingrove Park from 25 June to 30 September 1949, according to Glasgow Life, the organisation in charge of many of the Scottish city’s cultural venues. But since then, it seems to have been lost.
According to the Comité Rodin, which maintains a catalogue of the artist’s works around the world, the 2-metre sculpture represents Jean d’Aire, one of the figures in the Calais group.
Its director, Jérôme le Blay, told AFP that the disappearance was ‘regrettable, but must be put into the context of the times’, as plaster works did not arouse much interest in the 1940s. The value of the work today would be around €3.5m (£3m), he estimated.”
Le Blay hopes that the remains of the lost piece may similarly be found in the archives at a later date.
As much as 1,750 other objects have disappeared from Scottish museums. These include gold coins linked to Queen Mary I of Scotland.
And Scotland is not alone in this predicament: the British Museum also recently acknowledged the theft of thousands of items from its reserves – prompting the resignation of its director.
The institution managing seven national museums in Wales has also discovered that it is missing over 2,000 objects.
The Rodin sculpture is believed to have been missing from the Glasgow Museum for some 75 years, so whether there’s hope to locate it is anybody’s guess.
ArtNews reported:
“According to the Comité Rodin, this missing sculpture is a six-and-a-half-foot plaster version of Jean d’Aire, one of the six figures in Rodin’s Les Bourgeois de Calais. The Glasgow Museum bought the work in 1901 from Rodin himself, and from June 25 through September 30, 1949, the statue was displayed in Kelvingrove Park in the city’s West End.
[…] It’s likely that the statue of Jean d’Aire suffered the same fate as another plaster work by Rodin on display at Kelvingrove Park at the same time: it was damaged, and whatever parts remained were transferred to Glasgow Museum Resource Center and found years later.”
Read more about art theft:
Those Elegant Art Thieves: In the US and the UK, the Fate of Two Sophisticated Academics Show a Different Face of Criminality
Those Elegant Art Thieves: In the US and the UK, the Fate of Two Sophisticated Academics Show a Different Face of Criminality
Those Elegant Art Thieves: In the US and the UK, the Fate of Two Sophisticated Academics Show a Different Face of Criminality
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