Plundering beauty

With a title such as “Plundering Beauty”, one might be forgiven for thinking this slim grey volume is of the same ilk as “Shades of Grey”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hidden between its covers is a fascinating story of mankind’s wars down the centuries, paralleled by an equally extensive catalogue of the theft, destruction, plundering, displacement and concealing of some of the world’s greatest works of art. 

In the second of the Longwood Life Lessons series presented by Friends of Kokomai, comes Arthur Tompkins, Wellington District Court Judge and the author of the above book, subtitled “A History of Art Crime during War”.

A regular guest of Kim Hill on Saturday mornings on RNZ, Arthur Tompkins will present a talk on ‘Gentlemen Art Thieves: persistent myths and great art‘. In that, he will explore and trace the stubborn and recurring myth of the gentleman art thief, who steals masterpieces for solitary enjoyment in exotic hideaways: from Adam Worth, the original ‘Napoleon of Crime’, to James Bond’s first arch-villain Dr No, and finally Thomas Crown’s theft (and return) of Monet’s San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk. 

During the course of the talk, several questions will be posed. For instance, if such a mythical master thief did exist, which of the world’s greatest stolen (and still missing) artworks might be languishing in his hidden art collection? And is there a new commitment to the idea that a society’s artistic heritage belongs to itself or all humankind?

Tickets for this illuminating lecture, Sunday, Februrary 24^th, 4pm at Longwood, Featherston can be purchased from Eventfinda.  

Marguerite Tait-Jamieson