Buying a house is a complicated business and unless you’re buying a newly-built one, you’re invariably inheriting a number of additional complications from your home’s previous owners as well. Most of these usually involve things like old water heaters, damaged siding, or cracked pavement stones.
Every so often though, someone will be lucky enough to purchase a house and gain something out of it, rather than suffer a loss. Take for instance one Connecticut family who inherited a unique painting with a rather felonious past; both in the subject matter and in terms of the artwork itself…
Featured Photo Credit: shutterstock.com
Buying the House
When David Tracy first bought the Ridgefield house in 1987, he had no idea that he was investing in something far more significant than just a house. His realtor and friend, Gabby, explained that the home came with two paintings that the previous owners had left behind. Both were beautiful in their own way, but it was Gabby whom David was most interested in.
The Painting in Question
Eventually, Gabby and David’s professional friendship would progress to something more, marriage. After a few years, the two decided to move away from the Ridgefield home but decided to take one of their inherited paintings with them. The painting was large and featured a hunched figure riding in the rain. There was just something about it they liked.
Tied the Room Together
Unable to leave the painting behind, the Tracys ended up spending upwards of $37,000 on a special display area to hang the melancholy image. For the next 30 years, the large painting hung in their living room. They originally had it authenticated and though they could have sold it many times, they didn’t. Sad as it was, they loved the painting.
A Big Old Painting
The painting, which stands over seven feet tall and eight feet wide, features the sorrowful figure of a hunched Russian czar leaving the Kremlin on horseback. Several family reunions, birthdays, and assorted family functions have been held in the shadow of the painting. All who came to their home were charmed by it, but no one really knew how special it truly was until years later.
Retiring
Eventually, though, all good things must come to an end. The couple’s impending retirement meant that it might be time to downgrade their home and relinquish control of their beloved painting once and for all. They had made the decision to move to Maine and the painting couldn’t come with them.
Complications
With few other options, the couple decided to finally sell the presumably valuable painting. Little did they know the attempted sale would unleash a wave of undiscovered controversy into their lives. Their foray into the world of international intrigue and art theft began with a cease-and-desist letter from the FBI.
A True Original
As it happened, planning to auction off an original oil painting required the Traceys to do some digging. They discovered that their beloved piece was originally painted in 1911 by famous artist Mikhail Panin. The painting itself was entitled “Secret Departure of Ivan the Terrible Before the Oprichina” and depicts the former Czar fleeing the Kremlin with his loyal followers.
The Measure of a Leader
For those who don’t know, Ivan IV Vasilyevich, otherwise known as Ivan the Terrible, was a Russian Czar who ruled from 1533 until his death in 1584. Ivan was an able diplomat, a patron of the arts, and managed to transform Russia from a medieval state into an empire. Of course, he wasn’t called Ivan the Terrible for nothing.
The Measure of Madness
Ivan’s transformation of Russia took an enormous toll on its people and on its long-term economy. Intelligent and devout, he was popular among the commoners but was paranoid about other Russian nobles and treated them harshly. He was also prone to rages and episodic outbreaks of mental instability, both of which increased in frequency as he aged.
Family Tragedy
He is perhaps most known for one such outburst which involved him accidentally killing his son and heir, Ivan Ivanovich and his unborn son in a rage. Ivan’s legacy after that was, as you might have guessed, mostly terrible, but his notoriety lived on in the form of artwork. This included the massive piece in the Tracy home.
Cease and Desist
The Dnepropetrovsk Art Museum, who had been looking for the pilfered painting for more than half a century, contacted the Washington-based auction house that the Traceys had hired to organize the sale and let them know that it was their stolen artwork they were trying to sell. The auction house stopped the sale and contacted the FBI straight away.
Disappeared
As the FBI would eventually inform the Tracys, their particular Panin painting of Ivan had apparently disappeared from the Dnepropetrovsk Art Museum in Ukraine during the Second World War. Like many pieces of old world art, the chaos of war had rendered it the perfect black market commodity. In time, it found its way to the United States.
Painting History
After stopping the auction, the FBI began a full investigation into the history of the previously lost painting. What they discovered was that a former member of the Swiss Army had owned the Ridgefield house after emigrating to the United States in 1947. He brought with him a number of paintings but left Ivan’s there when he sold the house in the 1960s.
No Descendents
That couple too decided they had liked the painting enough to hold onto it for most of their lives until they retired to Arizona in 1987. They sold the house to David Tracy and the rest is history. As for the unidentified Swiss Army man, he died in 1986 and had no children. It seemed that responsibility for the painting now lay exclusively with the Tracys.
Returning the Work
“It was a big shock,” Gabby Tracy explained to CNN. “At first I thought it wasn’t necessarily true…” Once the FBI gave them the straight story and confirmed the authenticity, they decided their only option was to return it to its rightful owners. It wasn’t just the right thing to do either; legally they had no choice.
Happy to Assist
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu spoke about the Tracy’s return of the painting and about World War II looting in general. “The looting of cultural heritage during World War II was tragic…we are happy to be able to assist in the efforts to return such items to their rightful owners.”
International Relations
Valeriy Chaly, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, has also expressed his gratitude to the Tracys on behalf of his people. According to their Facebook post, their willingness to return the painting acts as a “vivid demonstration of the friendship between the US and the Ukrainian people.”
Fine Example
Thanks to the Internet, there has been a great increase in the repatriation of stolen World War II artworks in recent years. This cooperation between the US and Ukraine acts as a fine example of mutual understanding in terms of culturally-significant artifacts. And if you ask the Tracys, they’re more than happy to do their bit.
Doing the Right Thing
“It was never a question in our mind that we have to do the right patriotic thing,” explained 84-year-old Gabby, who is herself a Slovakian Holocaust survivor. “The fact that it was stolen from a legitimate institution, we’re happy to do the right thing.” Dave and Gabby continue to make plans to retire to Maine in the meantime.
Visiting Ivan
That said, the Tracys still hope to once again lay eyes upon the painting. They have plans to go to Ukraine once Ivan’s artwork is put on display in a museum. Their sentiment that such an impressive, iconic piece belongs in a museum is reflected in many around the world. Hopefully, the coming years will see more stolen artwork returned to its rightful place.
