Stolen Van Gogh paintings found after 14 years

Two oil paintings stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002 were found by Italian police in a town outside of Naples. The anti-mafia squad raided the apartment of Raffaele Imperiale, a major drug dealer who is currently on the lam probably in the United Arab Emirates, in the village of Castellammare di Stabia as part of a large-scale investigation into drug smuggling by the Amato Pagano clan affiliated with the Camorra, the mafia-like criminal organization centered in Naples. It was in the basement that they found the two paintings wrapped in cloth.

The police called in experts to confirm the identity of the paintings, but they already knew what they had. The theft from Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum is notorious, one of the FBI’s top 10 art crimes thanks to the paintings’ (very conservative) estimated value of $30 million. The two thieves climbed a ladder to the roof and broke into the museum in December of 2002. They stole Seascape at Scheveningen (1882) and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (1884/85), two of the artist’s important early works. Two men were convicted of the theft a year later, but the paintings were never recovered and how they wound up a thousand miles south of Amsterdam in the hands of Camorristi 14 years later remains a mystery.

Van Gogh Museum officials are ecstatic. Museum director Axel Rüger said at the press conference in Naples: “The paintings have been found! That I would be able to ever pronounce these words is something I had no longer dared to hope for.” The paintings are priceless to the museum, of course; their less left the collection with yawning lacunae.

The art historical value of the paintings for the collection is huge. Seascape at Scheveningen is the only painting in our museum collection dating from Van Gogh’s period in The Hague (1881-1883). It is one of the only two seascapes that he painted during his years in the Netherlands and it is a striking example of Van Gogh’s early style of painting, already showing his highly individual character. The hoped-for forthcoming return of the Seascape will fill an important gap in the museum presentation.

Congregation leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen is a small canvas that Van Gogh painted for his mother in early 1884. It shows the church of the Reformed Church community in the Brabant village of Nuenen, Van Gogh’s father being its Minister. In 1885, after his father’s death, Van Gogh reworked the painting and added the churchgoers in the foreground, among them a few women in shawls worn in times of mourning. This may be a reference to his father’s death. The strong biographical undertones make this a work of great emotional value. The museum collection does not include any other painting depicting the church. Moreover, it is the only painting in the Van Gogh Museum collection still in its original stretcher frame. This frame is covered in splashes of paint because Van Gogh probably cleaned his brushes on it.

Colonel Giovanni Salerno, head of the Guardia di Finanzia (financial police) division that executed the raid, said they recognized those unique paint marks on the back even before the paintings were authenticated as the missing Van Goghs.

The works appear to be in good condition, all things considered. The frames are gone. Seascape at Scheveningen has suffered some damage and is missing a small rectangle of paint (5 x 2 cm) from the bottom left corner. Congregation leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen has some damage around the edges. Conservators will have to examine them more closely to assess their condition. Clearly they have not been kept in ideal climactic condition, so there’s bound to be issues there.

Because the paintings are evidence in a giant organized crime case, they won’t be heading back to Amsterdam anytime soon. They will remain in the hands of Italian law enforcement at least until the criminal case is presented in court, perhaps even through the trial, which could take years. Police in Italy are very sensitive to art theft issues, however, and the museum has every confidence that they’ll do their utmost to get the paintings home as soon as possible.

200-year-old pub, liquor found in Manchester

There are many old pubs in Britain. Interruptions in service, moves, rebuilds make it ambiguous which is the oldest, but there are candidates in the running that are literally ancient, like 6th century ancient, and the Feathers Hotel, the oldest continually licensed pub, dates to 1619 and incredibly still has its original wooden facade. So within that venerable context, a pub from the early 19th century isn’t all that remarkable in and of itself.

Manchester is a city of a half a million people today and while it can trace its history back to the 1st century when it was founded as a civilian settlement attached to the Roman fort of Mancunium, for almost 1,800 years it was a small country market town. It wasn’t even a city until 1853. Industrialization made the difference. Manchester exploded in the 19th century when it became a center for cotton processing. In the three decades between 1820 and 1850, the rural hamlet became an urban metropolis bristling with smoke-belching factories and mills.

What make the discovery of the ruins of an early 19th century pub in Manchester’s city center is that so few structures from that period survived the rapid change brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Archaeologists found the foundations and walls of the pub and a bank vault during a survey of a site on the corner of Port Street and Great Ancoats Street where a skyscraper is slated to be built. That there was anything left at all of buildings from the Napoleonic era in downtown Manchester was surprise enough, but then they also found a great many artifacts that included names of people and the pub throughout its history. More than 20 glass bottles survived, some in excellent condition, three or four them still full of booze. (Brandy, apparently.)

Historians know which pub it is because it was still functioning as such until 1928. Opened in 1821 as The Astley Arms, the pub was renamed the Paganini Tavern in 1840, returned to the Astley Arms the next decade before ending its century-long run as Cornbrook House. The building remained standing. It was restored and partially reconstructed in 1986, but eventually was demolished leaving a vacant lot.

Aidan Turner, supervisor at the site and senior archeologist, said it was exciting to be able to link the findings to living people today.

He said: “We found pottery and bottle from the Astley Arms which actually has the name of the proprietor Thomas Evans, and the name of the pub written on it, so it must have been a commissioned piece for the pub.

“It’s brilliant because you can suddenly connect it to the local people in the area. We looked online about his family history and one of his descendants now lives in Texas.

I hope they contact the Texan descendant before the site is covered back up and the 13-story skyscraper is built on top of it. Some of the artifacts will go on display in Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry. (I’m partial to the handsome glass bottle with the workman’s arm emblem, traditionally a symbol of manufacturing and industry seen on everything from the Great Seal of Wisconsin to mechanic signs to the logo of the Socialist Labor Party of America, but probably best known in the United States as one of the most enduring corporate logos of all time: Arm & Hammer baking soda.) What happens to the rest, including that ripe old brandy, is up to the property owners.

Lord of Sipan’s face digitally reconstructed

Like the Egyptian pyramids, huacas (monumental structures) in Peru have been plagued by looters for centuries, and the eroded adobe pyramid built by the Moche before 300 A.D. in Huaca Rajada, near the town of Sipan, was no exception. It was looters, in fact, who first broke into the pyramid and struck literal gold. The archaeological gods were on the job that day, thankfully, and when the thieves got into a dispute over their loot, one of them squealed to the police.

The police called in archaeologist and Moche expert Walter Alva who excavated the site and discovered an elaborate royal burial. In the center of the tomb was the skeleton of a man about 5’4″ tall and 35 to 45 years old at the time of his death. His body was bedecked in precious ornaments — headdresses, face masks, ear rings, nose rings, a large pectoral, necklaces — and all around him were rich grave goods of gold, jewelry, pottery and much more, a total of 451 artifacts. Buried in the tomb with him were three women, two men, a child around nine or 10 years old, a dog and two llamas. The skeletal remains of one more man were found perched in a niche over the chamber roof. It was then and remains today the richest intact pre-Hispanic tomb ever found.

The central figure became known as the Lord of Sipan. The contents of the tomb were removed for study and conservation. They are now on display at the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum in Lambayeque. At the site of the adobe temples in Huaca Rajada, replicas of the Lord’s tomb and others found in the pyramids have been installed so visitors can see them in the open air.

A reconstruction of what the Lord of Sipan might have looked like adorned in all his finery is on view at the museum, but recently a new project was launched to use the latest technology to reexamine the remains and create a digital reconstruction of the Lord of Sipan’s visage. It was a tough challenge. The skull was discovered in 96 pieces, and museum staff had glued the fragments together supported by a plastic frame.

The study’s osteological analysis advanced the Lord’s age a decade (he was 45-55 years old when he died) and increased his height (he was a quarter inch shy of 5’6″). He was not very well muscled, which fits with his high status as he would not have been doing much in the way of heavy lifting. He had a few cavities, but nothing to write home about; overall his dental health was excellent. There was no sign of violence or trauma on his bones, just the beginnings of osteoarthritis in the spine, likely at the site of a long-ago injury in his youth.

Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University commissioned the Brazilian Team of Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Odontology to see if they could virtually take the skull apart and put it back together more accurately. They performed a high resolution 3D scan of the skull by photographing it from a variety of angles (photogrammetry). Those images were then entered into a software program that could unglue all the pieces and start over from the beginning. Using an average male skull as a template and with the input of a forensic dentist, the team was able to put the skull puzzle back together. The areas with missing pieces were filled in gray. Then the musculature and facial features with digitally constructed from the skull.

Walter Alva, who is still very much on the job as director of the Sipan Archaeological Project and of the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum (whose construction he championed with unmatched zeal), says of the facial reconstruction of the Lord of Sipan:

“This brings us closer and connects us especially to the current indigenous population. We see that the face of the Lord of Sipan is very similar to the Moches of Lambayeque who still survive to this day. The faces of the fishermen, the farmers of the region are direct descendants of this creative race.”

The digital reconstruction process is captured in this video:

[youtube=https://youtu.be/CYboYQqmLQI&w=430]

Parks Canada confirms HMS Terror found

Parks Canada has confirmed that the shipwreck discovered in Terror Bay by the Arctic Research Foundation (ARF) is indeed the HMS Terror. The crew of the ARF’s research vessel Martin Bergmann notified the government agency of their find on September 11th. Parks Canada’s Underwater Archaeology Team arrived to explore the wreck on September 15th. With help from the Canadian Coast Guard and Environment and Climate Change Canada, the team surveyed the site with side-scan sonar and a multi-beam echosounder. Underwater archaeologists dove the wreck three times.

The dives took place during difficult weather conditions and through poor visibility. The wreck’s upper deck is heavily covered by silt and marine life. Nevertheless, the divers were able to observe a number of features that were typical or unique to 19th century British polar exploration ships and the wreck has a number of design specifications that were common to both HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, including three masts, iron bow sheathings and a double-wheeled helm. There are no wrecks other than HMS Erebus with these features in the region.

Comparing this solid archaeological data to an extensive research archive that includes ship plans of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, Parks Canada’s Underwater Archaeology Team was able to confirm that the wreck is HMS Terror. The scans showed the well preserved wreck has and features matching the historic records for HMS Terror, including: the configuration of the bowsprit (the spar extending from the ship’s bow); placement of the ship’s helm; the boarding port; and deck scuppers (holes on the side of the ship to allow drainage) which differ from HMS Erebus.

The Parks Canada marine archaeologists found that the shipwreck is intact from stem to stern. No artifacts or human remains were spotted on board, but the visibility was so bad that doesn’t mean there aren’t any to be found. The thick layer of silt and marine life is obscuring anything on the deck. It’s also preserving it.

Next on the agenda is working with the Government of Nunavut and the Designated Inuit Organizations to protect the wreck site.

Luna settlement dig finds more 16th c. artifacts

Archaeologists returned to the site of the first multi-year settlement in the United States this summer and discovered more 16th century artifacts. Discovered by a local historian almost a year ago in Pensacola, Florida, the Santa Maria de Ochuse settlement was founded by Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano in August 1559. The 1,500 colonists — Spanish soldiers, indigenous Mexicans and African slaves — would have been well-provisioned has six of their 11 ships not been destroyed by a hurricane a month after their arrival. They wound up having to make do on their own which did not go well. In 1561, the survivors were picked up by Spanish ships and there was no further attempt at settlement of what would become the United States until Pedro Menéndez founded the St. Augustine colony in 1565.

The settlement site was excavated this season by archaeologists and students of the University of West Florida Archaeology Summer Field School. The team focused on the center and perimeter of the settlement, and what they’ve discovered aligns very well with primary documents about the expedition found in Spain by UWF archaeologist Dr. John Worth. One find that would warm the heart of any archaeologist is a trash pit, a stuffed one at that. The pit contains food detritus — seafood like shellfish, oysters and scallops — and a deer antler that suggests the would-be colonists supplemented their fishing with hunting. The team also found a number of iron strap fragments that were probably the hoops from barrels. Once the barrels were empty of the supplies they carried, archaeologists believe, Luna’s people may have broken them up and put them to practical use, like in the forging of nails, for example, or to make goods to trade with the local Native American population for food.

The dense grouping of mid-16th century Spanish artifacts (pottery sherds, nails) in the core area of the settlement strongly points to this being the Luna settlement. The sheer amount of trash points to a large number of people living there for a significant stretch of time. The fact that the inhabitants even bothered to create a trash pit, as opposed to burning it or discarding it willy-nilly, is evidence that this wasn’t just a landing party, but a planned settlement. There is also evidence of permanent structures built on the site, something attested to in the historical archives, in the form of post molds and horizontal stretches that would have been floors and other surfaces.

One artifact may even identify one dwelling as belonging to a specific member of the expedition.

For example, in one area containing a dense concentration of artifacts, they also found a balance scale weight, made out of a copper alloy, likely used in measuring pay for soldiers. Worth says there’s only one person in the expedition, the treasurer, who was in charge of that and, therefore, would have owned a set.

“The finding of that one scale weight in that particular spot, next to a post hole, may mean that we have found the house, the residence, of the treasurer of the Luna Expedition, Alonso (Velazquez) Rodriguez,” said Worth, noting that they also have a lot of documentary accounts by this same guy about what happened during the expedition.

Worth suggests a greater level of interest to have the words of Rodriquez along with some of his possessions, “so, to dig through his house floor, or his warehouse, or his, you know, yard and get the artifacts that he handled and he used, even like, for example, a brass pin that was found in that same unit.”

A brass pin in the 16th century would have been used as a paperclip of sorts, and Worth says it’s an item that the treasurer Rodriguez might have been using this item to hold papers together in his office at the Luna settlement. “We’re finding traces of those activities, and, the documents that I’ve read in Spain may actually have been written by him in that spot.”

According to the Spanish records, the Luna settlement was going to have 140 homes, four houses to a block with streets separating them on a rectangular plan. In the middle would have been a plaza, as any self-respecting Spanish settlement would have. Settlers had begun work on their new town, clearing the vegetation and building living and public spaces, but the hurricane hit five weeks after they got started, disrupting the original plan.

The Luna Settlement Project has a blog, which unfortunately did not keep up with the excavation during the summer, but the few posts it does have are interesting examination of the documentary and artifact record this far. There are some great pictures and lots of links to coverage of the excavation on the team’s Facebook page.