Norman Rockwell Museum receives donation following return of stolen Rockwell painting
Stockbridge — The Norman Rockwell Museum received a contribution earlier this month from an unexpected source: Chubb Insurance presented NRM with a $15,000 check that was the returned claims payment resulting from the discovery and return of a stolen Rockwell painting.
The painting, “Boy Asleep with Hoe,” had been stolen from a family home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in 1976. It was one of Rockwell’s earliest Saturday Evening Post cover paintings, completed in 1919. At the time of the theft, the family submitted a claim to Chubb and, following a claims payment, Chubb acquired the painting’s title.
The theft remained unsolved for four decades but, with renewed efforts by the family and the FBI’s art crime division in Philadelphia, the painting was finally found.
The FBI contacted NRM during its search and NRM curators provided key background and other information about the painting to assist FBI agents in their recovery efforts.
The family returned its claims payment to Chubb in exchange for the painting. In a press conference on Friday, March 31, in Philadelphia, the FBI and Chubb presented the stolen painting to its rightful owners. NRM’s director of curatorial operations attended the event and congratulated the family, the FBI and Chubb.
