‘The Judgment’ surfaces at church
Stolen Rembrandt intact, left inside pastor’s office
LOS ANGELES – An assistant priest at St. Nicholas of Myra Episcopal Church in the San Fernando Valley strolled into the pastor’s office Monday night and noticed a new framed drawing placed just inside the door.
Was it a donation from a parishioner? A new piece of art for the office?
But when he went to admire the drawing more closely, he realized he had seen it before. This, he was sure, was “The Judgment,” the 1655 pen and ink work by Rembrandt that had been all over the news since it was swiped in a brazen art heist two days earlier from the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey.
Within hours, officials had confirmed that painting was indeed the missing Rembrandt, which had been the subject of a high-profile hunt. Detectives expressed relief that the artwork had been recovered but were surprised that a heist that initially appeared so well-orchestrated ended with someone sneaking into a suburban church and leaving the drawing, which is valued at more than $250,000.
The Rev. Michael Cooper said he’s not sure if he was the intended recipient of the Rembrandt and was as puzzled as detectives about how it ended up at his church.
“We are a church. It is a place of reconciliation,” said Cooper, a former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who serves as a volunteer chaplain for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Cooper’s office, lined with religious books and filled with ornate wood furniture, is located in a bungalow just outside the main church, an imposing brick structure in Encino. Cooper said that someone apparently snuck in when his assistant pastor left the bungalow for a few minutes.
“The door was unlocked and propped open,” he said. “Somebody may have driven by and seen the lights.”
Detectives believe the thieves panicked over the attention the case has received and decided to dump the Rembrandt.
Investigators have reviewed surveillance video from the hotel and hope to use it to compile a sketch of the suspect, but there was apparently no tape from the church showing who dropped off the drawing. Officials dusted the painting for fingerprints.
The 11-inch-by-6-inch quill work is owned by the San Francisco-based Linearis Institute and was on display for potential buyers Saturday night at the tony hotel in Marina del Rey.
According to sheriff’s officials, the artwork disappeared between 10:20 and 10:35 p.m. The curator told detectives he became distracted during an extended discussion about art with a hotel guest, who is not a suspect. During this time, the curator had his back to the drawing, which was sitting on an easel. He turned around and saw it was gone.
Detectives believe more than one person was involved in the job.