A student returned the portrait to the Wilson College office Thursday afternoon after Wilson College Administrator Laurie Hebditch sent an e-mail to all Wilson College students requesting that the painting be returned “within 24 hours — no questions asked.”
The portrait was not damaged, Hebditch said.
“[The portrait] was returned as soon as the e-mail was sent out,” Hebditch explained, adding that she thought that “it was very nice of the student” to return the painting.
Hebditch declined to name the student who returned the painting.
A member of the Wilson College Council noticed the disappearance of the painting, Hebditch said. She declined to identify the student.
The portrait was likely stolen as a joke, Hebditch added. “I think [whoever took the painting] thought they were being funny,” she said.
In her initial e-mail to the Wilson community, Hebditch said that the University would offer “a 24-hour reprieve before a police report is filed.” The painting was returned within this 24-hour period, so no disciplinary action will be pursued, she said.
The painting is not under any security surveillance, Hebditch noted, adding that she believed it is too heavy for one person to move alone.
“It would be definitely too heavy for me to pick up,” she explained.
Wilson College Council chair Christine Bokman ’11 said in an e-mail that she had no information about the circumstances surrounding the purported heist, but she added that the robbery “goes to show how Wilson students have Wilson pride, enough to steal a painting of Ferdinand Wilcox and turn around and return it after.”
Bokman said she hoped the supposed theft would give Wilson students a newfound appreciation for the painting. “A painting that went unnoticed before will now gain a few weeks or more of recognition,” she explained.
Hebditch noted that the painting is “suddenly very popular” and that Wilson’s student-run newsletter, “What’s Up Wilson,” is planning to run a feature on it.
Diya Das ’12, the co-communications director of the Wilson College Council, said that she and the other students who work on What’s Up Wilson were planning to write a story on the painting even before the portrait vanished temporarily.
Das said that she and her friends were intrigued by the style of the portrait. “There’s just something about it. I don’t know — its just a little quirky from my point of view,” she explained.
Though she said she did not know the painting’s exact value, Hebditch said that the painting is “one of the original features of Wilcox Hall” and has probably been in the building since its construction in 1960.
A prominent banker whose bequest enabled the University to build Wilcox Hall, Wilcox was a member of the New York Stock Exchange and a senior partner in Wilcox and Company, a New York banking and brokerage firm, according to The New York Times. Wilcox also served on the Alumni Council for many years.
This supposed art theft is not the first of its kind on campus. Last April, numerous pieces of student art were stolen from the Lewis Center for the Arts at 185 Nassau St. A student’s sculpture was also vandalized at the same time. No suspects were apprehended in association with that case.
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