FBI finds Chagall painting stolen 30 years ago

Marc Chagall ’s painting “Othello and Desdemona” was stolen 30 years ago in New York; today theFBI found it and will return it to its rightful owners. The painting was hidden for years in a barrel in an attic in Maryland because the fence was never able to place it (apparently he was “too famous”).

He tried one last time last year but on the advice of the gallery owner to whom he had tried to sell it, the evildoer gave up and called the FBI to return the canvas. The painting had been purchased by a couple, the Hellers, in the 1920s. It was stolen in 1988 from the then-80-year-old Hellers’ apartment in Manhattan’s exclusive Upper East Side. Upon their return from their annual two-month vacation to Aspen, Colorado, the couple had found the apartment cleared of paintings, jewelry, rugs, and silverware worth about $600,000. The investigation determined that it was a workman who had taken “Othello and Desdemona” with him. Due to the statute of limitations, no one would be charged.

At a 1974 auction, the painting was estimated at between $50,000 and $65,000. The owners’ heirs have said they will sell it by reimbursing the insurance company in part and donating the rest to a number of nonprofit organizations.

FBI finds Chagall painting stolen 30 years ago

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