By AINSLEY THOMSON
An art thief left behind part of his finger after cutting it off while stealing a $65,000 Frances Hodgkins painting from an Auckland gallery yesterday in what is being called a theft to order.
It was the second time in a week and a half that Ferner Galleries
in Parnell have been the target of burglars.
Also stolen in yesterday's burglary was an Alice Whyte painting valued at $7,500. In the earlier burglary, a $15,000 Francis Huddlestone painting was taken.
Gallery owner Peter Jarvis said the burglaries were thefts to order because specific paintings had been taken and the thieves had gone to lengths to also take the paintings' price labels.
In yesterday's burglary, at 5am, the thief smashed in the heavy, plate-glass windows.
Mr Jarvis said the noise was loud enough to wake up neighbours.
The thief broke the glass on the Hodgkins' painting and it is likely the painting was damaged.
He cut his finger on either the window or the painting, leaving a part behind.
A witness saw the thief getting out through the smashed window and taking off in a small, red car.
Mr Jarvis has owned the Ferner Galleries for the past 20 years and until last year had never been burgled, but in the past year his four galleries have been burgled six times.
He said it was likely the paintings were being stolen for a private collection.
"Frances Hodgkins is our most reputed artist internationally and the paintings are our heritage."
The Frances Hodgkins watercolour, October Landscape, was painted in the 1930s.
The 480mm by 440mm work has recently been framed in a slim moulding, hand-gilded in gold.
The Alice Whyte oil on board, Kitchen Garden, measures 372mm 496mm.
The Francis Huddlestone watercolour, Glacier Creek, Kinloch, Wakatipu, measures 590mm x 445mm.
Mr Jarvis has emailed images of the paintings to galleries around the country and believes it would be impossible to sell the paintings on the open market.
Police will take a DNA sample from the piece of finger and hope for a match on the DNA database.
