Art historians refuse to give up hope that a £13 million painting missing from Peterhead will one day be found.
This time last year, academics launched a hunt for Paolo Veronese’s Pool of Bethesda after discovering the masterpiece was last exhibited in the town’s Arbuthnot Museum.
After they pieced together its history with the help of a local expert, Aberdeenshire Council agreed to investigate its records for any clues.
But 12 months on, the mystery of what happened to the huge 16th century painting remains unsolved.
Council staff ‘interrogating’ historic records
A council spokesman confirmed the “last known” records went back as far as 1905.
He said: “Aberdeenshire museums’ staff have been interrogating documentation held in the council’s library and museums services from the 1900s onwards.
“The last known physical records of the painting being in-situ and in the ownership of the museum in Peterhead date from around 1905.
“Unfortunately there is, as yet, no useful information to explain what happened next to the painting.”
How did Renaissance painting end up going missing from Peterhead?
The Pool of Bethesda was painted on a 6ft by 12ft canvas, and the one-tonne masterpiece was displayed on Catherine the Great’s palace walls.
It later found its way to Melbourne, before being shipped to Peterhead by north-east native James Volum in 1882.
It hung in the Arbuthnot Museum until at least the early 1900s, and it remains unclear how much was known about its incredible value.
Last year, Australian art experts began unravelling the mystery – aided by former Arbuthnot Museum historian Fiona Riddell.
‘It couldn’t have walked out the door’
Roderick Home, who was a Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne from 1975 to 2002, admitted it was “depressing” that nothing has yet emerged.
But he remains somewhat hopeful that more information can be unearthed – and that the painting could still be “waiting to be discovered”.
Mr Home told us: “The painting we’re talking about was a very large object, so it surely couldn’t just have walked out the door.”
‘I live in hope…’
Mr Home added: “If the museum simply binned it, the decision surely would at least have been recorded?
“I think it’s more likely that it might have been decided at some stage to take the picture down, and that it was put into storage somewhere and then forgotten about.
“And I live in hope that it might still be there, waiting to be rediscovered!”
Do you have any theories about the missing Peterhead painting? Let us know in our comments section below
‘How can missing Peterhead painting be lost?’
Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne Jaynie Anderson is an art historian, curator and biographer.
Jaynie told us that she “continues to think about” the missing Pool of Bethesda a year on.
She said: “It is/was a huge picture of some importance that hung in the best of Venetian palaces, including Palazzo Grassi.
“How can such a large important picture be lost?
“The problem continues to fascinate me.
“Let us keep on trying.”
If anyone has information on the painting, please contact ben.hendry@ajl.co.uk and it will be passed on.
You can read more on the extraordinary story of the missing painting here:
Mystery of the missing masterpiece: Historians hunt for painting worth £13m last seen in Peterhead
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