A $100,000 gouache on paper painting stolen from midtown's Marlborough Gallery in 1989 was spotted recently and turned in by an eagle-eyed art dealer. Robert Landau, a Montreal-based gallery owner, was first approached about buying Paul Klee's "Portrait in the Garden" in December 2009 at a Miami art fair. He said he couldn't evaluate the 1930 work's authenticity on the spot, so the seller packed it up and mailed it to Canada, expecting a fat check in return. Instead Landau placed an urgent call to Homeland Security. He told the AP, "We don't deal in stolen art.''
The Swiss neo-impressionist's painting was then turned over to the Art Loss Register in London, which "operates a permanent international database of stolen and missing works of art, antiques and valuables to assist law enforcement agencies." Its executive director called Landau "very honorable." "We wish that every dealer were like the Landau Gallery and that they searched before they bought everything,'' he said. An investigation of the case is ongoing, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As for the painting, it's now owned by Lloyd's of London, which plans to auction it.
