The man in the Iron Helmet.

The Man in the Iron Helmet

fiction
edward w pritchard

1. To authenticate a Rembrandt picture focus on the face. However, despite the expertise unless a Rembrandt work is signed it's a subjective matter.

Dean who was used to noticing how men dressed eyed the man exiting the car, a boxy salt covered GM product with displeasure. The man's black wool overcoat had stains speckled on the bottom and obviously hadn't been pressed this season. The shoes were worn crookedly at the heels and the pants were bunched at the calf, and the oxford shirt sleeves were too short at the thick wrists. The man wore no gloves or hat on his huge head and the tie was lopsided at the collar and probably stained, although Dean stopped himself at that inductive, not being able to see under the coat. The man walked heavily for a few steps, slumped and slid into the passenger seat of Dean's car.

After a few minutes of driving, following introductions, the man looked across and down at Dean and said " Do you mind if we have Mexican for lunch? I hear there is a good place near the Art Gallery."

Dean nodded OK, looking up from the steering wheel, trying to like the man he had just met, and glanced absentmindedly at his watch; noting it was 9:30AM and the man was already thinking about lunch.

A minute or two later they pulled into the rear of the old Post Office building, while dodging pot holes and snow piles in the parking lot as they searched for a space, not because the lot was crowded but because it was amateurishly plowed. Dean smiled kindly to himself remembering his tour of this odd building, this cities only real Art gallery several years before. A factory, a few offices, two eccentric owners and disorganization everywhere, except for the art gallery, which like the old post office building itself was a jewel in this tired old city.

They walked down a long marble hall, and Dean noticed there were no pictures hanging on the way to the art gallery, and entered the foyer containing three stories of magnificent windows across the entire front of the building over looking Romanesque Marble steps that nobody used and lead to one of the main streets of this town. They entered the gallery through the glassed front wall and walked 60 or 70 yards on teak hardwood flooring to a large oak wood counter, surrounded by hundreds of orderly picture frames hanging on the walls.

Dean glancing briefly at his notebook, although he remembered the name, called out, raising his voice in the high ceiling'ed room, and called tentatively, Mr Wallings, and then with a little more authority Terry?

Holding half a picture frame and his glasses in one hand a voice came before the man from behind a partition saying as he walked " Here to see the Man in the Gold Helmet I bet" and then the picture framer saw the man standing with Dean and said " this your body guard?"

The man with Dean without waiting for Dean to answer or an introduction, blurted " We are here to appraise the Rembrandt sketch"

Dean winced and corrected the man

" Terry, this is Charles Wren of the Ohio Department of Taxation, Estate Tax Division, and I am Dean Williams for the Cleveland Museum of Art. We would like to see the pen and ink sketch for a possible authentication".

Look all you want it's authentic" said the picture framer, in a stage whisper, sweeping his hand and arm toward the rear of the gallery, its authentically a real masterpiece and then louder" I remember you Dean from the framing for the Akron Art Institute show five years ago."
"Sure Terry, said Dean, " that was top caliber work," and then Dean blushed slightly realizing how condescending he sounded but remembering that this framer, while self taught, produced European quality work, from this obscure office in Ohio. Dean wondered did the framer mean authentically a Rembrandt which would be spectacular, or authentically a sketch of the famous original Man in the Gold Helmet [MITIH] that a few years ago had been proven not to be a Rembrandt. In any event that was what Dean had been hired for, by the Cleveland Museum of Art, to verify authenticity but most important to obtain the sketch for the Collection.

Two hours later Dean and The Tax Man as Dean now called him pulled into the Mexican restaurant not far from the gallery. This was there third stop of the morning. After leaving the gallery, at Dean's suggestion they had stopped at a tobacco shop to buy cigars, Arto Feunte, which Dean had hoped would help his companion regain his composure. Next they had spent two hours driving in Dean's car through the Cuyahoga River Valley Nature Reserve between Cleveland, Dean's current hometown and Akron. The first hour the man had been trying to stop the sobbing he had unexpectedly started when he first saw the preliminary sketch for the Man In The Iron Helmet. The second hour they had talked as they drove through the beautiful countryside, and Dean had started to unwind a little himself. The man, Charles had told Dean about his days as a hero at Ohio State University, where he was an all American Linebacker 32 years earlier, and how he was 26 years on the Columbus police department, 25 as a detective, and how after retirement he now did field work for the Ohio Department of Taxation, as he said, as a glorified bill collector. Dean began to like the Charles as they drove but didn't breach the subject of how or why the sketch had disturbed him. For Dean was sure that this man hadn't cried in public in a long time, and Charles would in time reveal the reason for the outburst.

As they stood in line at the crowed Mexican Restaurant, Charles smoked a six dollar cigar, unaware of the annoyance he was causing by smoking and how ludicrous it might seem for him to smoke a $6 Feunte. Staring out the window into the snow, Dean smiled at his new acquaintance and wondered how he would acquire the sketch for the Cleveland Museum of Art, for in his gut he knew it was authentic, although probably not a Rembrandt, and felt that Charles' reaction somehow proved something about the picture; for whether Rembrandt or another talented painter had developed the sketch it could still reach out across the centuries, and its power could move a grown man to tears.

2. Also in authenticating a Rembrandt work look for bold shadowing, and definition in the subject and always light and depth and theme in the picture.

end part 1


The Man in the Iron Helmet-Part 2

Fiction
Edward W Pritchard

3. Rembrandt drew prolifically but didn't sign his works as a rule. Further complicating the matter of authentication was Rembrandt's large teaching practice, often having 60 students who would draw and he would correct the works. Latter the students often surpassed the master, at least in their own time as Rembrandt's style fell out of favor.

Dean,--
" Dean you asked me to wake you at 9 and it's 9:15 the girl said as she rocked the edge of the mattress with her hand.

The young man Dean was deep in sleep and was becoming more and more difficult to connect with. She had been calling him every 15 minutes for an hour and he had been unresponsive, perturbed and uncooperative. Last night, he had been charming, alert and totally had his act together, but now he seemed almost comatose. But, fortunately the girl knew the problem, or instead of fortunately, we should say fortuitously, for her brother happened to have a similar style condition and she knew in general at least how to proceed. So with the final words that" if you are not up in five minutes you will be sorry" she left the room to check on the eggs she was cooking.

Five minutes later to the second, she slithered into the room, called out" Dean, Oh DE-an" in a throaty whisper, dropped her blue robe and slipped into bed with Dean and pressed her naked body against him. Dean had been sleeping deeply in the expensive sheets and pillow cases, and was lightly dreaming he was in Europe, again as a teenager in an expensive hotel. Dean awoke with a start, sat up in bed and began to swear at her angrily as he leaped out of bed in a single bound. The girl slowly sat up in bed, pulled the blankets around herself and winking at Dean began to laugh, and continued a little too long uncontrollably.

Later both sat at the kitchen table drinking strong coffee with Dean glaring at her until he said, sadly " How did you know?"
" A man who folds and hangs his pants up before going to bed, come on, besides I am one too" I got fired from my medical secretaries job for doing that with my boss."

Dean who was usually quick witted was still sleepy and a little slow so he uncharacteristically said " I don't get it"
"He was a she, she said, the boss that is"- "Oh" said Dean.

Then with concern she said' What's up with not being able to wake up?"

"Who knows said Dean, everyone has a theory I just have the Problem" and then sincerely, I'm sorry for the words I said"

No problem she said, all my friends treat me like that, with a laugh"

"Have some English Muffins" she said as she passed them to him, reaching for one on what Dean noticed was a very expensive piece of English China platter, and glancing around the kitchen he took note of the expensive appliances which were also out of place in this Farmhouse near Mansfield Ohio.

The woman, Dana asked Dean to explain why he thought that the sketch, the Man in the Gold Helmet wasn't an authentic Rembrandt. The difference in value was significant on a scale of 10 times for a master or student drawing, and Dean felt this work was one of Rembrandt's students. Dana appeared to be the legitimate half owner of the sketch and she was interested in what Dean had to say. Here's what Dean said, as Dana remembered it:

The problem with Rembrandt authentication is:

4. No agreed upon technique can authenticate an unsigned Rembrandt, of which there are many, often in museums all over the world. An original Rembrandt is worth ten to one hundred times more than a student painting so it is no mere matter of academic curiosity to the museums and collectors involved.
Rembrandt often suffered from financial troubles and even at the height of his career often taught to supplement his income. Students copied the master and the master often contributed to the students in process paintings. Later some of the students surpassed the master in their time due to changing tastes among the local art collectors. Of course the verdict of history is different but student competition contributed to Rembrandt's financial issues.
Despite Rembrandt's financial success as an artist, and teacher, his ostentatious lifestyle forced him into bankruptcy in 1656. At the resulting debt auction the house was sold as were his extensive art collection however, the results were disappointing.
Currently more than half of the previous attributed Rembrandt's have been declared non-Rembrandt's. The original painting the Man in the Gold Helmet falls into that category.

An hour later Dana walked him from her house, past a very large barn where she kept horses, to a white outbuilding, her dead Father's office, which she refused to enter. The first thing Dean noticed was the opulence- from the outside it was unprepossessing, but inside it was overdone, in a baroque way, with Oak spiral stairways, and Italian style doors, and stained glass windows and that sort of thing. The walls were cherry and since it was some sort of office building the counters were marble and the desks and cabinets were all antique, of fine woods, and very old.

Dean left slightly sick. Child pornography, that's what the building was devoted to, but what was the connection to the Man in the Iron Helmet? The daughter, Dana who owned the house and where he had stayed last night and had breakfast this morning had not been very open and or helpful about her Father. Her Father was the last buyer of The Man in the Iron Helmet, according to Charles Wren of the Ohio Department of Taxation, and Dana and her brother may be entitled to part of any sale proceeds.If the sketch was an authentic Rembrandt it would be very valuable, if authenticated, and it was now up in the air who owned the sketch because it was confiscated for being involved in Tax evasion; which was why Charles Wren had got involved. The possible connection of the sketch to child pornography further complicated the matter. However, the connection with pornography was unknown to Dean yesterday, and when he called the daughter she had agreed to let him come down immediately, but on the phone refused any money ever from any sale and said if it was up to her she would burn the building [ the white outbuilding] down, including the picture. She claimed, this morning to have never been inside the building, her Father's office, and now suggested Dean speak with her Brother after warning him it could be a little difficult and Dean would see why when he met the Brother.

The brother also lived on the large farm property about a quarter mile from the sister, in a very large free standing trailer and raised some goats and had a series of elaborate gardens and a sign that said Le Petite Trianon. The trailer that Dean entered was about 100 feet long, triple wide and very expensive looking.

The Brother was simply a jerk. Un-cooperative and difficult and claimed to know nothing of the man in the iron helmet and blamed his sister and her bitch lawyer from Mansfield for Dean being here at all. For if the lawyer would finally finish the Probate papers for the estate of their Father they could put all this behind them. All seemed lost for Dean, since he definitely hadn't hit it off with the Brother, until Charles Wren knocked on the door, and apologized for being late from Columbus, traffic, in getting to the Monroe farm, that is the Brother and Sister's farm where they now were.

The Brother's demeanor changed completely when he realized he had just met "Boom" Wren, the famous Ohio State University [ OSU] line-backer. He gushed for a while about OSU football and eventually agreed to sign whatever papers necessary to have the Man in the Iron Helmet go to the Cleveland Art Museum. He said neither he nor his sister needed the money and he could see a certain symmetry if some good came from the picture. However, he refused to discuss the picture, even with Boom and claimed no knowledge of and his deceased Father's art collecting habits.

As Charles, Dean just couldn't call a grown man 'Boom", and Dean left the tailor, Dean thought to himself: Now if he could just:

A, Get the sister's OK to donate the picture to the Cleveland Museum in writing, and if he could trust the brother
B. Work all this out with the "bitch lawyer in Mansfield and get approval from the Probate Court in Mansfield
C. Hold Boom together when they went to definitively authenticate the picture,

Then Dean might be able to get the valuable Sketch of the Man in the Iron Helmet for the Cleveland Museum of Art as a donation and sadly although he was pretty sure from seeing the sketch at the gallery in Akron that it wouldn't add anything to the Rembrandt or not debate about the original Man in the Gold Helmet it was a valuable piece of Art in its own right.

5.At one time over a thousand works were attributed to Rembrandt. Now however, more than half have been have been attributed to other painters. His students were strongly influenced by Rembrandt's style and experts often cannot tell a real Rembrandt from a student drawing. Many museums have had paintings formerly attributed to Rembrandt lose substantial value due to recent scholarship on what is an authentic Rembrandt.

end part 2

The Man in the Iron Helmet [part3]

6,Unsigned Rembrandt's are always now suspect. One technique scholars use to authenticate a Rembrandt is the use of story telling, a theme that runs through many of the signed works.

Dean and Charles were driving together through the back Country near the Monroe farm and decided to stop at the State Park for lunch. Dean who liked expensive light meals told Charles he couldn't eat another heavy overcooked meal so Dean picked the Restaurant at the State Park for a late lunch because he knew the food would be spectacular because Dean knew from experience that these type of Restaurants attracted the best local chefs before they moved past Ohio restaurants into fine cooking in Chicago, New York or other venues.

The salmon had been perfect, the asparagus and eggs inspiring and the coffee remarkable and as Charles lit up the last fuente cigar Dean broached the subject of Charles's " idle" tears at the Art Gallery in Akron.

Dean waited later as Charles went into the Law Office in Mansfield. Dean had called her three times in the last 4 or 5 hours, on the request of the Brother and Sister Monroe, and the Attorney was always on the phone and she hadn't called back and her assistant insisted couldn't call for up to 24 hours. Charles hadn't gloated much but he had got through to her immediately, on his first call to the lawyer, after he and Dean had finished lunch. He later told Dean, don't be surprised, what Lawyer can duck a call from the Tax Department, they all have a guilty conscious, and that is when Dean told Charles although, non-practicing he was also a barrister, but not licensed in Ohio.

Charles came back a few minutes later and said the Probate Lawyer would meet them while she had her lunch behind her office building at a picnic table, if they didn't mind the cool air.

The lawyer was an older woman, hurried and very bright. As Dean went through the basics of the controversy surrounding the sketch the Man in the Iron Helmet she understood immediately the reason for the interest in the sketch. The lawyer grasped the economic fact that while the sketch was authentic, the fact that it was conclusively, Dean thought, not an original Rembrandt, like the original of the Man in the Iron Helmet, and Dean was one a few experts qualified to give an opinion and certainly the only one of those in Ohio today, greatly effected the value of the sketch. Dean thought the value of the sketch had went down about 90% in value the last couple of days, from the initial interest created when it was discovered, and when it was thought that it might authenticate the original Man in the Iron Helmet as a true Rembrandt. The lady Lawyer asked several questions about other possible sketches of the Man in the Iron Helmet and if Dean had a changed his opinion based on the sketch, concerning the original picture, that was thought for so long to be a Rembrandt or if he knew based on the sketch who the actual painter of the original might be. Dean said sadly no, but felt that the only conclusion that could be drawn was that the sketch merely collaborated that both the original and it were not Rembrandt works. But in his opinion the power to move an audience of both the picture and sketch were remarkable and the painter of the work was on a caliber of a Rembrandt but unfortunately Rembrandt's current reputation cast a huge net on value as judged by collectors and speculators and while in the future the sketch would increase in value it would never in his opinion be a top valued museum piece.

A few minutes later Dean had to leave the area. In truth Dean was not a good negotiator, it was difficult for him to understand why others didn't cave in and agree with the logic of his position. With that he let Charles and the lady Lawyer negotiate, even walking to the car once so they could talk in private. The lawyers position was that while her clients, the Brother and Sister's interest were her main duty and if they wanted to donate the sketch she would try to follow their wishes, until the probate case closed she could have potential other clients since she represented all the potential heirs of the Father, not just his known son and daughter and she must proceed carefully, because the statue on claims from unknown heirs was not ran. She therefore was reluctant to allow a donation. Dean didn't know much Probate Law, and knew nothing of the local rules in Ohio but he saw this as a bargaining plow and Dean had begun to get a little high handed and pushy with the lady and on a wink from Charles decided to let Charles proceed. Charles seemed to have lots of room to negotiate and told Dean later that he could leave a lot of money on the table as long as he got some $'s for the State in taxes. In the end a deal was reached where the Cleveland museum would get the piece as a donation, which was encouraged by the Court in these type of matters, most of the back taxes claimed by the State would be waived, except $40,000 or so of taxes would be paid, and all expert fees would be paid; even Dean's who was to be paid $20,000, from the Probate case , at Charles insistence, on top of Dean's Cleveland Museum of Art retainer, although Dean had not asked for these fees.The Attorney said she would have the paperwork prepared in a few days. The Lawyer assured them she could get the Judge to sign the paperwork if it would clean up this file, and barring an objection over the next 15 days from a mysterious party the matter would be resolved.

Driving to Columbus with Charles a couple of days later, Dean told Charles of his original search for the original documents on the sale from Mr. Monroe who Charles was investigating concerning the ownership of the picture and the back taxes due. Dean the day after the Mansfield meeting with the Probate Attorney, had looked with several employees of the people who owned the Art Gallery in Akron for the original sale documentation.They had met Terry the picture framer on the large second story of the building, actually the old mezzanine of a Post Office made by the WPA in 1932. The second floor had been the postal inspection offices but it was very run down and the roof and windows leaked in winter, especially at a large skylight. That's where the Art gallery receipts had been stored, under the leaking skylight, having been moved there; because the two lawyers who leased the front offices and paid most of the rent insisted that where their boxes of discarded files that were kept on the second floor must be dry, since they were the only paying tenants in the building. Dean, the picture framers, a couple of maintenance workers, and one of one of the lawyers on the first floor, next to the Art Gallery's, teenage kids had spent several hours looking for the box containing the transfer receipts for July 2002, for the gallery and had eventually found it. The box and all the records in it was destroyed by water and snow damage and all the papers inside were waterlogged and completely unreadable. Dean had made a phone call to a couple of insurance restoration companies, and one had looked at the waterlogged ball, that looked to Dean like a description he had read of pieces of pumice that spewed on Pompey from Mt. Vesuvius, but both had said it was hopeless, anything once in there was ruined. So any document inside, including the receipt from Monroe's purchase would never help authenticate or un-authenticate the original Man in the Gold Helmet, or the sketch as whether or not they were authentic Rembrandt's. Therefore Dean's opinion if concurred by other experts would be final.

Eventually,the sketch went to the Cleveland Museum of Art and The Man in the Gold Helmet is there now, and as it was when the sketch was re-discovered, the sketch is not considered an authentic Rembrandt, but is still a very powerful piece of Art. The sketch had been bought by Mr. Monroe from an unknown European source, probably with a bundle of pornographic pictures, although the sketch itself was not pornography in any form, it had more than likely been confiscated by the German Nazi's during their art confiscation activities in 1939's, in Europe. That is all that is known or will be known of the matter of the origin of the sketch of the Man in the Iron Helmet. The small White out building on the Monroe farm, Dean heard latter had mysteriously burned down, with Mr. Monroe's art collection inside, that is except the Man in the Gold Helmet which now resided in Cleveland Ohio.

Why did a former all American linebacker from the Ohio State University Buckeyes sob and cry when he saw the sketch of the Man in the Gold Helmet? That's between Charles and his long since Deceased father and the only other person who knows is Dean and he won't say because he has his own issues to deal with.

7.Despite the recent history of authenticating previous works attributed to Rembrandt to others no one can dispute that an original Rembrandt can move the viewer from across the centuries. Using timeless themes such as in the Prodigal son, The Jewish Bride, the Night Watch, and even in the self portraits expressing the aging process in himself as subject Rembrandt is one of the greatest painters of all times according to most Art Historians.

End