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Charley Hill (detective)

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Charley Hill
Born
Patrick Charles Landon Hill

(1947-05-22)May 22, 1947
Cambridge, UK
DiedFebruary 20, 2021(2021-02-20) (aged 73)
London, UK
Other namesChris Roberts
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Detective
  • private investigator
  • solider
Police career
DepartmentArt and Antiques Unit
BranchMetropolitan Police
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
BranchUnited States Army
Years of service1968–9
Unit173rd Airborne Brigade

Charles Patrick Landon Hill (born Patrick Charles Landon Hill;[1] 22 May 1947 – 20 February 2021) was a British-American art crime investigator and Vietnam veteran. He is best known for recovering Edvard Munch's The Scream three months after it was stolen.[2] Hill also played a crucial role in the recovery of many of the paintings stolen by Martin Cahill from Russborough House.

Early life[edit]

Patrick Charles Landon Hill was born in Cambridge to Zita, a ballerina, and Landon Hill, a captain in the U.S. Air Force.[2] The family frequently relocated between Britain, Germany, and the United States. He later switched his first and middle names, preferring to be called Charles instead of Patrick.[1] Hill attended schools in Texas, London, Colorado, and Frankfurt, before finally settling in Washington, D.C., where he attended St. Albans School before entering Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.[3]

Vietnam War[edit]

In 1968, Hill dropped out of college and volunteered to fight as a paratrooper in the Vietnam War with the 173rd Airborne Brigade,[4] despite his opposition to the war.[5] During a raid on an enemy encampment, Hill and two fellow soldiers found it deserted except for a wounded elderly Montagnard man, who had likely guided North Vietnamese troops through the mountain passes. Hill's companions intended to kill the man, but Hill intervened and saved his life.[5]

When his tour of duty ended, Hill departed from that regiment's November platoon and returned home to Washington, D.C.[5] After his service in Vietnam, he transitioned from working as a security guard to studying history at George Washington University in 1971. His academic performance earned him a Fulbright scholarship to study history at Trinity College Dublin.[6] Following this, he taught high school in Belfast and pursued further studies in theology at King's College London.[7]

Metropolitan Police[edit]

After joining London's Metropolitan Police in 1978, his career in law enforcement evolved into undercover work, particularly focusing on art-related cases.[8] He spent over two decades at the Art and Antiques Unit. During investigations, he often disguised himself as an illegal art dealer with a Mid-Atlantic accent.[9] Hill played a crucial role in recovering many of the eighteen paintings stolen in 1986 from Russborough House by mob boss Martin Cahill.[1]

The Scream recovery[edit]

The Scream by Edvard Munch

Hill played a pivotal role in the recovery of The Scream after its theft from the National Gallery in Oslo in 1994.[10] Norwegian authorities extradited an English prisoner to the UK to complete the remaining five years of their sentence. Upon their release on parole, they contacted the Norwegian embassy in London, claiming they had obtained information about the theft through connections made while incarcerated in Norway.[5] Given the absence of an art crime department in Norway, the Norwegian authorities enlisted Hill to assist in the case.[11]

The former prisoner facilitated communication between British and Norwegian authorities, enabling Scotland Yard to gain a credible lead in the case. Over three months, Hill, using the alias Chris Roberts, posed as a Getty Museum representative and interacted with intermediaries linked to the Norwegian thieves. Hill convinced them that the Getty Museum would pay £500,000 for the return of the painting.[1] Gaining their trust and luring them with money, they arranged a meeting at a summer house in Åsgårdstrand on the Oslofjord.[11] Without carrying a weapon, he attended the meeting where The Scream was found hidden in the basement, leading to the painting's recovery and the arrest of the accomplices by local police.[8]

Later life and death[edit]

After twenty years in the police force,[12] he resigned and worked as a private investigator. In 1993, Hill worked on recovering Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid by Johannes Vermeer in Paris.[13] He posed as an art dealer and traveled to a Belgian parking lot to retrieve the painting.[1] In 1996, he collaborated with Czech and German authorities to recover a collection of paintings and statues stolen from the National Gallery Prague, including Lucas Cranach's The Old Fool.[14]

Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Titian

In 2002, Hill led the search that resulted in the discovery of Titian's Rest on the Flight into Egypt, a painting stolen in 1995 from a drawing room at Longleat House in England.[15] After offering a £100,000 reward in exchange for a tip-off, it was found in a plastic shopping bag at a bus stop in London.[16][17][18] In addition to the Vermeer, he assisted in recovering Francisco Goya's Portrait of Doña Antonia Zárate and pledged that he would locate the remaining stolen paintings.[19]

In 2020, his efforts to recover three Rembrandts, five Degas, a Manet and a Vermeer that were stolen 30 years ago from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, were documented in the BBC Four documentary The Billion Dollar Art Hunt.[20]

In 2021, Hill died in a London hospital at age 73 from a torn aorta following unsuccessful surgery.[1]

Gallery[edit]

Selected works recovered by Hill

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Smith, Harrison (13 March 2021). "Charles Hill, who tracked down stolen masterpieces like 'The Scream,' dies at 73". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  2. ^ a b Basciano, Oliver (11 March 2021). "Charley Hill obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  3. ^ Sandomir, Richard (10 March 2021). "Charles Hill, Detective Who Found 'The Scream,' Dies at 73". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  4. ^ "CharlesPLHill". Sky Soldiers Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Dolnick, Edward (July 2006). The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0060531188.
  6. ^ Marquard, Bryan. "Charley Hill, art detective who found 'The Scream' and studied the Gardner heist, dies at 73". Boston Globe. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  7. ^ Greenberger, Alex (22 February 2021). "Charles Hill, Art Detective Who Helped Recover 'The Scream,' Has Died at 73". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Obituary: Charles Hill". Irish Independent. 14 March 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  9. ^ Salisbury, Laney; Sujo, Aly (2010). Provenance: how a con man and a forger rewrote the history of modern art. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-311740-7.
  10. ^ "Charles Hill obituary". www.thetimes.com. 20 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  11. ^ a b Finkel, Michael (27 June 2023). The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0525657323.
  12. ^ Boser, Ulrich (1 April 2010). The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft. Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0061451843.
  13. ^ The Palgrave Handbook on Art Crime. Palgrave Macmillan. 11 July 2019. ISBN 978-1137544049.
  14. ^ Obituaries, Telegraph (5 March 2021). "Charles Hill, art sleuth who tracked down works by Titian, Vermeer, Goya, and Edvard Munch's The Scream – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  15. ^ "Stolen Titian painting found in carrier bag could fetch £25m at auction". The Irish News. 4 April 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Titian painting stolen from Longleat and found at London bus stop put up for auction". The Independent. 14 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  17. ^ Pyke, Nicholas (23 August 2002). "Stolen £5m Titian found in carrier bag after seven-year hunt". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  18. ^ "Titian's Rest On The Flight Into Egypt painting to be auctioned". BBC News. 5 April 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  19. ^ "The art detective". The Telegraph. 8 July 2002. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  20. ^ Mangan, Lucy (19 October 2020). "The Billion Dollar Art Hunt review – the case that stumped the FBI". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
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