Missing for Four Decades, This Unusual Double Portrait of Rubens and van Dyck Has Finally Resurfaced

A 17th-century double portrait depicting Flemish artists Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck has been returned to Chatsworth House, a historic home in Derbyshire, England, 45 years after it was stolen.

“It was a thrilling moment to actually have it back here at Chatsworth,” says Charles Noble, the estate’s emeritus curator of fine art, in a video recounting the painting’s history.

The oil-on-wood portrait, which was painted in the 1640s or 1650s by Flemish artist Erasmus Quellinus II, joined Chatsworth House’s Devonshire Collections in 1838, reports BBC News’ Matthew Barlow.

In 1978, now-retired Chatsworth librarian Peter Day organized an exhibition at a Sheffield gallery that included the double portrait, he says in the video. The painting was later loaned to the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, which staged the same show the following year.

On May 26, 1979, an unknown group stole the portrait from Towner in a “smash and grab” raid, as authorities described it at the time. Police investigated the theft but were unable to recover the painting.

For decades, the artwork’s whereabouts remained unknown. That changed in 2020, when Belgian art historian Bert Schepers contacted Chatsworth House to alert its trustees that the portrait had resurfaced at an auction in France. Over the next three years, the trustees worked with the Art Loss Register (ALR), an organization that maintains a database of stolen art, antiques and collectables, to reach an agreement to return the painting to its previous home.

Chatsworth's stolen painting

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Upon its long-awaited return to Chatsworth, the painting underwent extensive restoration. Conservators noticed that its two wooden panels had shifted, and ultraviolet fluorescence revealed nicotine stains.

“It seemed worthwhile to fully clean the painting and bring back some of its original brilliance,” Noble says in the video.

According to an ALR statement, the consignor of the painting in Toulon—the southern French city where the painting was rediscovered at auction—found it in their parents’ Eastbourne property, which was occupied by squatters soon after the 1979 theft. The damage to the portrait may date to this period.

The painting is “unusual,” says Noble, citing its gray tones and wooden panels. Its primary purpose, he adds, was to serve as the basis for a print, specifically an engraving. Come November, the portrait will go on view at the National Galleries of Scotland’s Royal Scottish Academy Building in Edinburgh, BBC News reports.

It’s unusual “to be able to trace a picture back so closely to the location of its theft over more than 40 years [ago],” says Lucy O’Meara, recoveries manager at the ALR, in the statement.

She adds, “We are delighted to have been able to secure its return to Chatsworth where it belongs. … This should give hope to others who are still seeking the return of pictures stolen decades ago.”

Ella Feldman | READ MORE

Ella Malena Feldman is a writer and editor based in Washington, D.C. She examines art, culture and gender in her work, which has appeared in Washington City Paper, DCist and the Austin American-Statesman.