Provenance_ How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art - Laney Salisbury [48]
A few weeks later the priory wrote back, saying it had no recollection of owning any artworks. It made the mistake of telling Drewe that, although it had sold hundreds of books from its library, it had not kept complete sales records. Drewe replied that it was too bad the priory had been careless and “foolishly” sold off the Patrologiae; otherwise it would still own the works that had been found in the volumes. He insisted on a meeting, and drove to St. Philip’s on the appointed day.
Although the sale had taken place many years earlier, some of the friars were still upset that such a valuable trove had been sold for a pittance. Drewe sympathized with them and told them the works belonged to Messrs. Peter Harris and Hugh Roderick Stoakes, who were willing to donate 10 percent of the proceeds of the sale to the O.S.M. This was false, of course, nor did his friends Harris and Stoakes know that they had just become the proud owners of “Sutherlands.” To make the sale, however, Harris and Stoakes needed proof that the works had been at the priory and had been sold to Fisher & Sperr legitimately. Drewe hinted that the owners were considering legal action if the priory did not issue some kind of declaration to that effect.
The matter was now taken up by the overseer of the O.S.M. in England, Father Paul Addison. The U.K. branch of the order was a small, tight-knit community little more than a century old, and most of the friars knew its history well, having passed it along from one generation to the next. Father Addison discovered that none of them recalled seeing or hearing about religious works of art in the libraries of either St. Philip’s in Begbroke or St. Mary’s in London.
Addison knew and admired Graham Sutherland’s work, particularly Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph, the vast green and gold tapestry the artist had designed for Coventry Cathedral. Addison would have remembered if any of Sutherland’s religious works had ever belonged to the priories, but since it never occurred to him that Drewe was lying, he came up with reasons to question his own judgment. Many friars had died in the period since the community was founded, and the memory of such ecclesiastical works might well have disappeared with them. The assets of the order had never been fully cataloged, and it was possible that sketches and watercolors had been overlooked or misplaced or slipped between the pages of the Patrologiae for safekeeping. How else to explain Drewe’s photocopies of several small Sutherlands with the priory’s stamp on them? To Addison’s knowledge, the priory had used a single stamp on its library and archival matter since the early 1900s. It was the only one of its kind, and identical to the one on the photographs.
Addison consulted his board of trustees and then wrote to Drewe.
“After proper investigation and consultation with the persons concerned . . .”
He paused at the typewriter. He did not want to deny the order a donation, nor did he want it involved in a lawsuit.
“. . . All and any sales of books, maps, manuscripts, papers and drawings belonging to the English Province of Friar Servants of Mary from its Begbroke Priory during the years 1966 to 1976 were conducted with due permissions and observance of the regulations. . . .
“I hope the above declaration will leave all subsequent handlers of those books, maps, manuscripts, papers and drawings quite clear as to the origins of their acquisitions.”
With full faith in Drewe’s good intentions, Addison provided the details of the order’s bank account, so that Drewe could wire the donation.
Now Drewe had his provenance, and several weeks later at Christie’s, dealers and collectors bid on a series of Crucifixion scenes by Graham Sutherland. Each one of them bore the O.S.M. stamp.
The order never received a penny from Messrs. Peter Harris and H. R. Stoakes.
John Sperr sat at his desk,