Lost Paintings by Manet
On March 18, 1990, Manet's Chez Tortoni (1878-1880) was stolen from the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston along with twelve other works in what has been described as the highest valued peace time property theft in history. Despite a recent increase in the reward from five million dollars to ten million dollars, all the stolen works remain at large thirty years later.
On April 3, 1987, a painting known as Femme Assise (Paysage), or Sitting Woman (Landscape), was presented for the first time after being missing from the 1883 inventory of the artist's work (made after his death). After a cursory cleaning of the work, Manet's signature became visible, cementing the attribution that was supported by a battery of technical and scientific tests on the materials of the painting. The catalog published upon the occasion of the work's presentation is still in circulation; however, there is very little subsequent information on this painting.
