Harvard to retrieve 2 stolen paintings

Two paintings reported missing from Harvard University more than 30 years ago will soon be on their way back to Cambridge after two art dealers at an estate auction recognized the stolen artwork and contacted the school, according to Daron Manoogian , spokesman for the university's museums.

The paintings, one a 1790 portrait by John Singleton Copley, were auctioned last weekend from the estate of New Yorker William M. V. Kingsland , who died of an apparent heart attack in March. As soon as the stolen artwork was pointed out by the dealers who purchased them, the Stair Galleries in New York voided its sales of Kingsland's extensive art collection while the FBI investigates whether other pieces are stolen, said Colin Stair , owner of the auction house.

"My hat's off to both the dealers . . . They were incredibly diligent," said Stair, who describes the case as "truly bizarre." Stair said that he and other art experts who reviewed Kingsland's paintings did not suspect anything was stolen and believed the signed Copley portrait was either a fake or a copy.

For Harvard, the recovery of the paintings brings an unexpected happy ending to thefts that were first reported in 1968 and 1971. The earlier theft was a portrait of former Harvard President John Thornton Kirkland either by, or copied from, famed 19th-century painter Gilbert Stuart . The Copley portrait depicts William Ponsonby , second earl of Bessborough, painted after Copley left the American colonies, where he had opposed independence. Both paintings were reported missing from university storage, according to a statement from Harvard University Art Museums.

"We are pleased and relieved that they have been located," said Manoogian. "The buyers were pretty knowledgeable people."

Stair had estimated the Copley painting would bring in $1,500 to $2,500, but an art dealer from London paid $85,000 for the work. A second dealer bought the Kirkland portrait for $7,500, far above the expected price tag of $200 to $400. Both dealers contacted Harvard about their suspicions on Monday after reviewing the paintings' histories, Manoogian said.

Kingsland, a genealogist and historic preservationist in Manhattan's Upper East Side, died without living heirs or a will, so the city of New York confiscated his belongings and distributed them for sale through several auction houses, Stair explained.

How Kingsland came into possession of Harvard property remains unclear. He could have unwittingly purchased the paintings from the thief. Kingsland was a somewhat mysterious figure, known for his upper class manners and encyclopedic knowledge of Manhattan architecture. In his obituary in the New York Sun, one friend said Kingsland "was slightly annoyed that the 20th century had occurred."

Scott Allen can be reached at allen@globe.com.