Stolen double portrait of Rubens, Van Dyck returns to Chatworth

A rare double portrait of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck stolen in 1979 has returned to Chatsworth House, the stately home of the dukes of Devonshire. It suffered some damage during its long ordeal — minor paint loss, nicotine staining, panel separation. After cleaning and conservation, the portrait is now back on display at Chatsworth.

The oil-on-panel painting by Flemish artist Erasmus Quellinus II is an unusual grisaille painting featuring two medallion busts of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck. Each portrait is set in an elaborate frame surrounded by symbolic figures with the artists’ coat of arms underneath their busts.

The rare double portrait is all the more rare for having been made specifically as a preparatory study for a print by Flemish engraver Paulus Pontius (Paulus Du Pont). It was never meant to be hung on a wall in its own right. Pontius had been the principle engraver in the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, making meticulously detailed reproductions of the master’s designs with a particular focus on portraits of the monarchs and officials of the Spanish Netherlands.

Rubens died in 1640, and Pontius continued to make print reproductions of works by other luminaries of the era, most notably Anthony Van Dyck. This combination of portraits of his most popular artists was destined to become one of his most beloved prints. Surviving examples today are in the collections of top museums including London’s National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago and the Rijksmuseum.

The painting was stolen on May 26, 1970, in a smash-and-grab when it was on loan to the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne for an exhibition dedicated to Anthony Van Dyck. It was the only thing stolen, which was an odd choice, to say the least, given that original drawings by Van Dyck were on display in the exhibition and they are worth literal millions. I guess the master’s oeuvre must have looked less impressive to untutored smash-and-grabbers.

Police investigated but found nothing. It disappeared without a trace until December of 2020 when it was spotted by Dr Bert Schepers, a Belgian specialist in Flemish art, at a small auction house in Toulon, France. He recognized it as the stolen piece and reported it to the Trustees of Chatsworth House. They in turn reached out to the Art Loss Register for help in recovering the work.

The auction house withdrew the lot and the sellers had no idea of its history. They had found the painting in their deceased parents’ home in Eastbourne which had been occupied by squatters around the time of the theft. They kept the painting for sentimental reasons, thinking it had belonged to their late parents, finally deciding to sell it 40 years later. The sellers agreed to return it to Chatsworth, receiving only a small finder’s fee which they donated to charity.

This video recounts the story of the theft, recovery and conservation.

* This article was originally published here