A historic painting of George Washington is back in proper hands more than a year after an art theft in Englewood. The painting, a valuable copy on reverse glass of a well-known image painted by American artist Gilbert Stuart, was turned over to Englewood police after a tip to Crime Stoppers.
“I think this painting is amazing. It’s really high quality,” said Englewood Police Detective Christian Contos.
The painting is done on glass, explained Monica Brown, managing director of fine arts for Freeman’s | Hindman, an auction and appraisal company.
Brown looked up the history of the painting and explained that the original was purchased by an American captain who took it to Guangzhou, China, in 1798. There unnamed Chinese artists created about 100 copies. He brought them back in the early 1800s and sold them when interest in patriotic-themed art was strong. Only about six are known to exist today. Four are in museums, and a couple of others are in private hands.
“Chinese artists used the reverse glass painting technique, with large sheets of imported European glass as the canvas,” explained Brown. The front is glass and smooth. Like a mirror, if the back were scratched, it could potentially be seen through on the other side.
The value could vary widely on condition and whether it had much of a story to go with it Brown explained, like it had been owned by a famous person.
But art and mementos of the Founding Fathers are solid sellers.
“All of those founding fathers are very marketable. They’re market darlings, you could almost say,” she said. She thought the value at retail could range from $60,000 to $150,000.
The painting had been stolen from a storage unit in an Englewood storage facility in January of 2024. The trail had gone cold. When he started pursuing the case, Contos was in new territory.
“I’ll preface that by saying this was the first art theft that I’ve ever worked,” he said. He contacted the FBI’s Art Crime team for advice. There were different avenues to pursue and clues to check on. The painting was added to the database at the National Stolen Art File. Art dealers and appraisers like Brown’s firm check paintings through the database to ensure art is not stolen.
Contos took information from the Crime Stoppers tip in which a person mentioned two names they said were associated with the missing painting and eventually had a phone conversation with a person who said he had the missing artwork.
“He said he had had it for almost a year. That at the time he was staying in a hotel and a hotel employee gave him the painting saying they found it in a room abandoned that they were cleaning.” But they didn’t offer a lot. “They would not tell me where the hotel was or the person who worked for the hotel gave it to him.”
Contos wanted it back, but the person possessing it was worried about possibly being arrested.
“That type of negotiation went on for like two weeks. Back and forth. Multiple phone calls, multiple texts,” said Contos.
The detective said he had no reason to doubt the story he got about the discovery of the painting in a hotel. There was no arrest when the painting was turned over to the police.
It adds up to Brown as well.
“If you’re stealing something out of a storage unit, are you really thinking that you’re going to find an expensive painting?” Brown wondered. It’s possible the thief did not know its value and abandoned it after realizing the trouble it might be. Stolen art is not exactly something that can be easily posted for sale on the internet.
“There certain art heists where the theory is that it would then go onto the black market, but it’s not something that can trade publicly,” she noted.
Police say, fortunately, the artwork does not appear to have significant damage other than some frame damage.
The painting’s owner is thrilled said Contos. But technically, the painting now belongs to an insurance company that paid the owner a claim, and what happens to it will be up to the insurance company.
Back in proper hands, it is now a painting with a story. And detective Contos said he liked the idea of getting his own copy of the work to put up in his office.
