Sale 6583, Lot 44 Walter Crane (1845-1915) The Fate of Persephone Oil on canvas Estimate: £400,000-600,000 Crane Spotting By Angus Wilkie Rescued from the darkness, Walter Crane's Persephone sees the light of day again - thanks to a clever Connecticut schoolboy. Children are still taught stories from classical mythology, where Titans clash and the fortuities of youth lead to great finds in unlikely places. A new tale that must be causing merriment on Mount Olympus is that of the elementary schoolboy who recently discovered a long-lost Victorian painting. The Fate of Persephone by British artist Walter Crane (1845-1915) was untraced since it left Germany in the 1920s - until it was spotted in Old Lyme, Connecticut, by Bingham Bryant, aged 10. Transfixed by its ethereal qualities during a routine class discussion, the young man's curiosity grew. 'It's been propped above the bookcase behind the librarian's desk forever, and I told my dad that he had to come and see it,' says the modestly chuffed young sleuth. His father, Christopher Bryant, a private dealer in 18th and 19th century military material, specializes in tracking things down. And he appreciates his son's perspicacious instincts: 'Bingham may or may not be a dealer in the making, but he's developed a good eye for disparate things our family collects, from Bauer pottery to British uniforms, military buttons to first-edition Oz books.' The young wizard's eye was spot-on again. Unframed, grimy, soured with varnish, the painting was in a sorry state, left to its own misery. Piles of paperwork, fluorescent lights and an electric ceiling fan were its unflattering company. It depicts Pluto, lord of the underworld, and his two rearing black stallions emerging from Hades to abduct Persephone, goddess of spring, as she plucks flowers from a spring meadow. Crane painted it in 1878 and showed it that year at the Grosvenor Gallery Summer Exhibition, where it was much admired by his contemporary, the Pre-Raphaelite artist Burne-Jones. It resurfaced again in Germany in 1902. Bought by the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, it was later sold to a Berlin dealer in 1923. Liverpool-born Crane was a prolific designer of wallpaper, textiles, stained glass and ceramics who made his name as an illustrator of children's books including Grimm's Fairy Tales. A versatile member of the Arts & Crafts Movement and follower of William Morris, he involved himself with art education, identified closely with the era's growing Socialist Movement and grappled to ally art with everyday life. He always maintained that painting was his first love. His large allegorical works are scarce but many found German buyers, who no doubt liked their figurative character and elaborate Symbolism. So how did such a major work end up abandoned in Connecticut? Enter Christopher Bryant. Wading through the School's history, he unearthed the painting's complicated past. At first it was unclear why it languished there, let alone who owned it. The unassuming private buyer in the mid-1920s turned out to be Brian Hooker, an author, librettist and professor of rhetoric at Yale University, best known for his translation of Cyrano de Bergerac. A dramatic personage who, perhaps, liked the painting's emotional imagery, Hooker had long hoped to build a house on nearby Fisher's Island and hang the painting in his future dining room. However, the house was never realized, so he offered to loan it to the Old Lyme Center School, circa 1935, where his cousin happened to be involved as an architect. Family members recall it being the one painting Hooker ever purchased. When he died in 1946, aged 66, it was valued for estate purposes at $200. Bryant consulted Hooker's obituary, determined that his widow had also died, then located his two surviving daughters, now octogenarians, who are the painting's legal heirs. Acting as agent to a possible sale, he explained the complex scenario to the astonished sisters, who agreed to sell. Rescued from obscurity, The Fate of Persephone is rejuvenated and in a replica of its original frame, and a young man has secured an early claim to fame. Angus Wilkie is a regular contributor to this magazine. Back to top