Art Heist (2004): El Greco, William Baldwin and Hollywood Cliches

     Directed by Bryan Goeres, Art Heist (2005) was first released in Spain and then went straight to DVD in the United States. The story concerns an art expert, who is sent to Barcelona to help investigate a series of Art Heists… and finds herself caught up in a dangerous web of deceit and greed. The film contains many art heist cliches, like masked robbers with sophisticated equipment, rolling up 500-year-old-paintings as easily as brand new posters, daring chases and commissioned thefts by wealthy gangsters and connoisseurs. The paintings stolen in the movie include four works by El Greco and one by Lucas Cranach. William Baldwin and Ellen Pompeo do their best in the lead roles, but the writing isn't on par. The supporting cast includes Ed Lauter, Rachel Laure and Abel Folk.

: Art Heist. 2004 Film

Ellen Pompeo: Art Heist. 2004 Film

Ellen Pompeo and Ed Lauter: Art Heist. 2004 Film

William Baldwin: Art Heist. 2004 Film

Ellen Pompeo: Art Heist. 2004 Film

Ellen Pompeo: Art Heist. 2004 Film

: Art Heist. 2004 Film

William Baldwin: Art Heist. 2004 Film

Ed Lauter: Art Heist. 2004 Film

El Greco Heist: Art Heist. 2004 Film

"Art Heist"- scene

"The Nightwatchman", 1962. by Norman Rockwell on View at the Worcester Art Museum

The Nightwatchman, 1962. by Norman Rockwell. Worcester Art Museum

by Travis Simpkins

     In 1962, Norman Rockwell was commissioned to paint yet another cover for the Saturday Evening Post. This illustration was to depict a nonchalant late shift security guard at a museum. For a museum, Rockwell chose the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts as inspiration. Containing the second largest collection of arms and armor in North America, the Higgins was utterly unique, with a great hall built to represent an interior castle setting. Norman Rockwell visited the Higgins Armory Museum, took reference photos and met with staff. Back home in Stockbridge, he executed an enormous charcoal preparatory sketch for the finished work to be called "The Nightwatchman." The drawing depicts a late shift security guard amongst a display of arms and armor, perhaps just having awoken from a quick doze, pouring himself a cup of coffee and preparing to enjoy a meal break. His watchman's signal clock casually hangs on the ironclad foot of the display armor. It certainly recalls a simpler time in museum security… a line of work, that despite parody, has long held a certain mystique. To be in an empty museum at night is an indescribable feeling… especially if one possesses an interest in history. This illustration, "The Nightwatchman", sums up some of that… anchored by a collection established during the golden age of American museums. 

The Nightwatchman, 1962. by Norman Rockwell. Worcester Art Museum

The Nightwatchman, 1962. by Norman Rockwell. Worcester Art Museum

     On a related note, there is still one Watchman's Signal left at the Worcester Art Museum. It has been out of service for decades, but recalls the old practice of stopping in at regular stations that would've been employed by Rockwell's "Nightwatchman." It is fitting that the drawing of the Security Guard, along with much of the armor, came to the nearby Worcester Art Museum when the Higgins Armory Museum closed in 2013. 

Old Watchman's Signal

Research: Worcester Art Museum "Then and Now" by Travis Simpkins. Update #25

     -The first photo, from 1920, shows the area that would eventually become the Jeppson Gallery at the Worcester Art Museum. At the time, it was more of an alcove on the third floor landing. The photo was taken from what was once a small balcony room above the lower third floor galleries, looking straight across the stairwell. At some point, many years ago (probably when the fourth floor was added), a wall was erected to enclose the space... leading up to it's present use as the Jeppson Idea Lab.
     -The second "Then and Now" composition contrasts the Renaissance Court in the early 1980's and at present. Notable elements from the 1982 photo include a variety of Flemish tapestries hanging from the balcony walls, the lack of a border and railing around the Antioch Hunt mosaic and how dark the floor was with heavy applications of wax. The lighting in the older photo is much more stark as well, with artificial illumination, as natural light was not reintroduced to the space until 2001.

     -The sketch depicts the Ancient Greek marble Grave Stele of an old man, crafted in Athens during the 4th Century B.C., and seen at left in situ in the Renaissance Court photos.

     -When the Renaissance Court was constructed in the early 1930's, it was equipped with many practical amenities, including a Central Vacuum system. The round hinged-outlets, scattered around the area, are remnants of that old system.

Third Floor. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins

Renaissance Court. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins

Old Man. Worcester Art Museum. by Travis Simpkins

Central Vac System. Worcester Art Museum, 1930's