Robert Motherwell

Robert Motherwell, Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 1960

Well, this was certainly a strange case. Reported stolen in 2001, the painting showed up for sale at an internationally well known art gallery. When confronted with the “theft”, the gallery confirmed that the painting was on consignment by the daughter of the theft victim.

The big problem was that the victim was paid out by his insurance company and was now confronted by a big decision:

1. Reimburse his insurance company for what turned out to be, perhaps, a simple mistake or

2. Throw his daughter under a bus and proceed to have her arrested for art theft.

Believe it or not, when presented with these options by Christopher A. Marinello, the attorney for the insurance company, the insured, a billionaire property developer in the USA, said he needed some time “to think about it”. After about a week, he made the right choice and agreed to reimburse the Insurer but not before demanding a reduction for the cost of framing!