Mar 6, 2009 6:10 am US/Eastern
CBS 2 Investigation: Who Would Con ... A Convent?
Catskills Nuns Claim They Were Cheated Out Of Millions On Painting By The Very Art Expert They Trusted
ROUND TOP, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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A convent of nuns in the Catskills was told this painting was worth $450,000, only to see it up for sale for $5 million not longer after parting with it.
CBS
Art and the Catholic Church share a long history. Most of the great works have a religious theme and were often financed by the Vatican.
But one long-lost masterpiece has put a dark cloud over the world of art dealing amid accusations a convent of nuns were cheated out of millions by the very expert they trusted.
Were they conned, or simply novices in the murky world of high-priced art?
Twenty years ago, the convent of Mary Mother of Our Savior in the Catskill Mountains was given a gift by an anonymous donor – a large painting in rather bad condition.
Then, five years ago, one of the sisters who knew art recognized it as the work of William Bouguereau, a 19th century French master.
"This man was a genius," art dealer Brian Roughton said.
Roughton is an expert on Bouguereau.
"If you look at her spectacular hands, they're sensitive, they're transparent. There's blood in them," Roughton said.
"It was too good to be true," said Mother Mary Bosco, the convent's superior general.
The nuns asked Albany art appraiser Mark LaSalle to look at the painting. He told them it was worth $150,000 in its damaged condition, but if restored could be worth three times as much. So the sisters sent their beloved painting away for a painstaking two-year restoration.
"Once it was restored the painting was spectacular," Mother Bosco said.
When LaSalle told them he'd found a buyer who'd pay $450,000, it was an answer to their prayers.
However, a year later the sisters were shocked to get an anonymous e-mail saying the painting had sold, again, to the Bouguereau expert, Roughton. This time for more than $2 million.
"You can't go much lower in my estimation than to con, quote unquote a community of sisters," said Bishop Clarence Kelly of the Society of Saint Pius V.
"I was very surprised and disappointed," Sister Mary Xavier said.
It was Paul Dumont who put the art appraiser LaSalle together with the buyer Zaplin, and said he's the one who hatched the plan to pry the painting from the nuns at a low price and sell it for a big profit.
"If everybody makes money, it's great, you know?" Dumont said. "There's a lot of money involved. There's a lot of temptation."
Dumont said after he found the buyer the appraiser pushed him out of the deal. So Dumont turned on his alleged co-conspirators, and in a sworn affidavit quotes the appraiser as saying they could screw the sisters and make a handsome profit by giving the sisters a low appraisal.
CBS 2 HD: "You initially were willing to go along with this scheme, so what's the difference between you and these other people?"
Dumont: "What's the difference is that I had no control over distribution of funds. You can read anything into it, I'm a bad guy, they're a bad guy. The point is, where did the money go? Didn't go to me!"
The convent is now appealing to a higher authority -- the courts. They're suing both the appraiser, LaSalle, and the buyer, Zaplin.
Journalist Douglas Dechert has covered the art world for 20 years.
"It's a sleazy business with a patina of class and style," Dechert said.
"You wouldn't even expect, say, a professional gangster to engage in such behavior," Bishop Kelly said.
Meanwhile, the Bouguereau is up for sale yet again. Asking price now is $5 million.
Neither the appraiser, LaSalle, nor the original buyer, Zaplin, would talk on camera, but they both deny any collusion and insist at the time of the sale, LaSalle represented Zaplin, not the sisters.
So who exactly is on the side of the angels in all this? Well, the devil may be in the details: the purchase agreement says clearly that after the sale is finalized, Mark LaSalle and his client can do whatever they want with the painting. But they do admit to sharing the profits from the $2 million sale.
The bottom line here: get more than one appraisal.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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