Art historians are losing hope that a £13 million Italian painting missing from Peterhead will ever be found.
Earlier this year, flabbergasted academics identified the final known whereabouts of Paolo Veronese’s Pool of Bethesda to be the town’s Arbuthnot Museum.
But nobody seems to have any idea what happened to the huge 16th Century painting beyond the early 1900s.
At the start of February, Aberdeenshire Council confirmed officials were “interrogating” the record books for clues.
Now more than two months on, an Australian expert who helped uncover its history is running out of hope.
Hopes fading over masterpiece
Roderick Home, who was Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne from 1975 to 2002, is now beginning to fear the worst.
He said: “I had expected to have heard, long since, that the painting by the 16th century Venetian master Veronese, which once hung in the Arbuthnot Museum in Peterhead, had been found…
“Or, if not that, to have heard at least that documents had been found revealing what had happened to it.
“Instead, there has been utter silence.”
Missing Peterhead painting’s jaw-dropping history
Paolo Veronese’s Pool of Bethesda, weighing a tonne and measuring 6ft by 12ft, was shown off on Catherine the Great’s palace walls.
It was shipped to Peterhead from Melbourne by north-east native James Volum in 1882.
The wealthy brewer, then in the final years of his life, wanted to gift it to his hometown.
And it hung in the Arbuthnot Museum for decades, with seemingly no-one aware of its importance.
Artwork’s disappearance a ‘scandal’
Prof Home added: “It would be astonishing, indeed scandalous, if such a large, important and extremely valuable item had simply disappeared without trace.
“I can understand that it might have been decided at some point to take the picture down from the wall where it had been hanging.
“But even if – God forbid! – it was simply sent to the tip at that point, this ought to have been recorded by both the museum and the town council.
“Similarly if it was stolen – although, given the painting’s size, this would have been a difficult feat to pull off – or transferred, temporarily or permanently, to another home.”
Prof Home stressed that the valuable artwork is “public property” having been gifted to Peterhead by Volum.
“Not to have recorded what was being done with it would have been a gross dereliction of duty,” he concluded.
“There must surely be a record somewhere, that with any luck will lead to the painting itself!”
Council says search for missing Peterhead painting goes on
The Press and Journal recently asked Aberdeenshire Council what work had gone into the search, and how optimistic (or otherwise) staff are about finally solving the century-old riddle.
A spokesman would only confirm that “collective investigations into this missing masterpiece are continuing”.
But in the past, the authority has stressed that the Peterhead town council responsible at the time pre-dates Aberdeenshire Council and its predecessor.
If anyone has information on the painting, please contact ben.hendry@ajl.co.uk and it will be passed on.
Read more about the missing masterpiece and its extraordinary history:
Mystery of the missing masterpiece: Historians hunt for painting worth £13m last seen in Peterhead
