The sad story of the portraits

Somewhere in the world, the portraits of Sir John and Lady Cass are almost certainly hanging on someone’s wall. That someone may not know who the pictures show. Or that they are stolen goods.

 

For many year the portraits were safe – it is likely that they hung in the school building. At intervals through the nineteenth century the trustees agreed to have the pictures of “Sir John and Dame Cass” cleaned and restored.

 

Then, in the 1970s, it was agreed that the portraits should be cleaned once more. They were stolen from the restorer’s studio, and have never been seen again.

 

The portraits had never been photographed. But at some time, someone has painted new pictures, perhaps of what he or she remembered of the old ones. These are now on the wall of the Cass Foundation’s offices.