Picture strolling through an art gallery, admiring the mesmerising stained glass windows that hail all the way from the 13th century. Sounds like something straight out of a fairy tale, doesn’t it? Well, prepare yourself for a plot twist, because it turns out that these breathtaking masterpieces have a much darker history than we could have ever fathomed.
In a twist that could rival the best of thrillers, three esteemed museums, including the Worcester Art Museum, have found themselves embroiled in a scandal involving purloined medieval stained glass windows. Reports from a French publication have spilled the beans on Lumière sur le patrimoine, an association based in Paris, which has lodged a complaint against the Worcester Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn, Pa.
These museums stand accused of harbouring and exhibiting stolen panels from the Legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, which originate from the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen in Rouen, France. According to the Met, these 11 panels, dating back to approximately 1200, were snatched from the cathedral in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The association’s president, Philippe Machicote, alleges that these stolen stained glass windows found their way into the American market, eventually landing in the possession of collectors and, finally, in museums.
One of the stained glass panels, titled “Messengers from Ephesus before Emperor Theodosius II,” is currently residing in the Worcester Art Museum. WAM has insisted that they take their obligations towards their collection very earnestly and obtained the stained-glass window at a public sale in 1921, asserting that they have never been approached regarding its contested origins.
The Glencairn Museum, once the residence of the Pitcairn family, also houses some of the disputed panels. They disclosed that the WAM bought one of their panels at a sale in 1921. The Met, on the other hand, acquired their panel, “Theodosius Arrives at Ephesus,” through the Glencairn Museum in 1980.
This isn’t the first time that the Worcester Art Museum has been ensnared in an art imbroglio. They were compelled to return a bust to Turkey last autumn after fresh evidence arose suggesting that the work was in all probability looted from a family shrine.
The unearthing of these stolen stained glass windows in esteemed American museums has sent reverberations throughout the art world. It serves as a potent reminder that behind every entrancing work of art, there may lurk a tale of enigma and fascination.
As the inquiry unfolds, the world waits with bated breath for the next instalment in this medieval enigma. Will justice prevail, and will these priceless pieces of history be restored to their rightful abode? Only time will tell. In the meantime, the art world is left grappling with the age-old conundrum: what secrets lie beneath the surface of our most treasured wonders?
