The Art Newspaper

Wanted: government work of art legs it from UK's supreme court

By The Art Newspaper. From In The Frame
Published online: 30 July 2010

The UK's Government Art Collection has suffered the misfortune to have had one of its works stolen or lost in the Royal Courts of Justice, in London's Strand. In response to a Parliamentary Question this month, tourism and heritage minister John Penrose admitted that the work had been on loan there and was recorded missing during an inventory check on 10 April. It was an engraving of Henry Powle (1630-92), Master of the Rolls, based on a portrait by Godfrey Kneller. The framed print was valued at just £100. Although very modest in artistic terms, one might have expected it to have been safe in the high-security Royal Courts of Justice, the country's Supreme Court...