Boom to bust: Statue stolen from church during the Blitz to return to its rightful home.
It has had an astonishing 70-year journey across Europe but at last this 'priceless' sculpture is to be returned to its rightful owners.
The 400-year-old bust of eminent botanist and physician
Dr Peter Turner was thought to be lost forever after being dramatically stolen from a church badly hit by the Germans during the Blitz in 1941.
Thieves stepped through the rubble and looted the famous Medieval St Olave's Church in the City of London on the night of April 17 taking the artefact with them from its damaged nave.
But the 1614 statue - worth an estimated £70,000 - has been recovered after a keen-eyed curator at the Museum of London got wind of its impending auction and tipped off church officials.
And it is now due to take up its original position in the medieval church, where England's most famous diarist Samuel Pepys is also buried.
The Art Loss Register (ALR), an organisation which specialises in tracking down stolen pieces and resolving art-related disputes, took on the case and the alabaster bust was withdrawn from the sale.
An investigation later revealed a chain of previous buyers including Belgian art trader Paul de Grande who bought the work from an ecclesiastical dealer in the Netherlands.
The Dutch dealer had acquired the work from a man going by the name of Gray Dench.
Christopher Marinello, ALR executive director and general counsel, said research showed this name was false.
'I do not believe that de Grande or the Dutch dealer knew that this bust was stolen,' Marinello said.
'However, both dealers knew that the bust originated from St. Olave's. One simple phone call to St Olave's would have brought the true history to light.'
To the surprise of experts, the bust had travelled to the Netherlands with documentation detailing its history up until the 1941 bombing.
Returned: The sculpture will be placed at its original resting place, close to where English diarist Samuel Pepys is buried
Church officials were stunned to find the provenance stated 'Presumably the bust of Dr Turner was salvaged from the ruins (of the Church) but its history since the Blitz is undocumented.'
However, investigators believe the artwork was stolen rather than salvaged after the bombing.
ALR said the Dutch dealer declined to comment while Mr de Grande claimed he did not call St Olave's because wartime photographs of its bombed state led him to believe it had been destroyed.
Mr Marinello said it would take some time to set the bust back in its original position but it is expected to be in place later this year.
'If you visit the church, you can still see the space where it once hung,' he added.
'It's a very empty space and I think the church will really be made complete when it is put back in that particular spot.'
The Reverend Oliver Ross, rector of St Olave Hart Street, said its return was a 'cause for great celebration'.
'We are deeply grateful to the Art Loss Register for their diligent and generous efforts on our behalf, as well as to Dreweatts and the two dealers concerned for enabling such a happy end to Dr Turner's long years of exile,' he added.
The missing work had formed part of a larger memorial erected by Dr Turner's wife around 1614.
His remains are buried underneath the church.