Grebenar Museum Burned to the Ground
Police Suspect Arson
The London Times described the loss of Friedrich Bloch’s work as devastating, and far more significant than the destruction of the museum itself. After all, the arts correspondent pointed out, Hertzendorf could always build another museum, while the portraits of Christ and his twelve disciples were works of true genius, and quite irreplaceable.
During his closing prayers the following Sunday, Monsignor Grebenar thanked God that he had not taken the lawyer’s advice and transferred The Last Supper to the museum for safe-keeping; another miracle, he suggested.
“Another miracle,” murmured the congregation in unison.
________
Six months later, The Last Supper by Friedrich Bloch (1643–1679) came under the hammer at one of the leading auction houses in New York. In the catalog were Bloch’s Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (1662), while the portraits of the twelve disciples were displayed on separate pages. The cover of the catalog carried an image of The Last Suppe
r, and its unique provenance reminded potential buyers of the tragic loss of the rest of Bloch’s work in a fire earlier that year. The foreword to the catalog suggested this tragedy had greatly increased the historic significance, and value, of Bloch’s only surviving work.
The following day a headline in the arts pages of The New York Times read:
Bloch’s Masterpiece, The Last Supper,
Sells for $42,000,000.
MEMBERS ONLY*
9
“Pink forty-three.”
“You’ve won first prize,” said Sybil excitedly as she looked down at the little strip of pink raffle tickets on the table in front of her husband.
Sidney frowned. He’d wanted to win the second prize—a set of gardening implements, which included a wheelbarrow, a rake, a spade, a trowel, a fork, and a pair of shears. Far more useful than the first prize, he thought, especially when you’ve spent a pound on the tickets.
“Go and collect your prize, Sidney,” said Sybil sharply. “You mustn’t keep the chairman waiting.”
Sidney rose reluctantly from his place. A smattering of applause accompanied him as he made his way through the crowded tables and up to the front of the hall.
Shouts of “Well done, Sidney,” “I never win anything,” and “You’re a lucky bastard” greeted him as he climbed up onto the stage.
“Good show, Sidney,” said the chairman of Southend Rotary Club, handing over a brand new set of golf clubs to the winner.
“Blue one hundred and seven,” the chairman announced as Sidney left the stage and headed back to his table, the golf clubs slung over his right shoulder. He slumped down in his chair and managed a smile when his friends, including the member who had won the gardening implements, came over to congratulate him on drawing first prize in the annual raffle.
Once midnight struck and the band had played the last waltz, everyone stood and joined in a lusty rendering of “God Save the King.”
As Mr. and Mrs. Chapman made their way home, Sidney received some strange looks from passersby who had rarely seen a man carrying a set of golf clubs along the seafront, and certainly not at twenty to one on a Sunday morning.
“Well, Sidney,” said Sybil as she took the front door key out of her handbag, “who would have thought you’d win first prize?”
“What use is a set of golf clubs when you don’t play golf?” Sidney moaned as he followed his wife into the house.
“Perhaps you should take up the game,” suggested Sybil. “After all, it’s not long before you retire.”
Sidney didn’t bother to respond as he climbed the stairs. When he reached the landing he pushed open the hatch in the ceiling, pulled down the folding ladder, climbed the steps, and dumped the golf clubs in the loft. He didn’t give them another thought until the family sat down for Christmas dinner six months later.
________
Christmas dinner at the Chapman household wouldn’t have differed greatly from that in a thousand other homes in Southend in 1921.
Once grace had been said, Sidney rose from his place at the top of the table to carve the turkey. Sybil sat proudly at the other end of the table while their two sons, Robin and Malcolm, waited impatiently for their plates to be laden with turkey, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes, and sage and onion stuffing. Once Sidney had finished carving the bird, he drowned his plate with thick Bisto gravy until the meat was almost floating.