Rose Dugdale passed away on the 18th March in Dublin, just days before the release of the film ‘Baltimore’, in which her character, the protagonist, is played by Imogen Poots.[i]
Rose Dugdale, having been born into a wealthy, British family, and educated at Oxford, went on to join the IRA and, among other crimes, famously concocted and participated in the heist of several, almost priceless, works of art from Russborough House in 1974.
It was an astonishing journey to make, and ultimately, she spent several years in prison, during which time she gave birth and got married.
The paintings that were stolen included works by Goya, Rubens, Gainsborough, and Vermeer’s ‘Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid’, one of only two Vermeers held in private collections at the time. Dugdale, who had a background in art history, posed as a lost French tourist and approached the house in Co. Wicklow. The proprietors, Sir Alfred Beit and his wife Clementine, were tied up and beaten and Dugdale went through the house pointing out which paintings were to be taken. 19 paintings were then unceremoniously placed in the boot of a car and driven to Cork where Dugdale and her accomplices tried to ransom them off for money and prisoner releases. They were ultimately unsuccessful, and the paintings were recovered less than two weeks after the theft.
These poor paintings were the subject of yet further thefts in 1986, 2001, and 2002. The gangland criminal Martin Cahill (The General) was responsible for the 1986 theft. He orchestrated the heist of 18 paintings, which were ultimately recovered in Antwerp and the UK. The Vermeer was in fact donated to the National Gallery of Ireland in absentia during this time. It was part of a much larger donation to the museum from the Beits, and has been described as “among the greatest single gift to any Gallery in the world in that generation” .[ii]
Sir Alfred Beit was made an honourary Irish citizen, and there is now a wing in the National Gallery named after the husband and wife pair. Rose Dugdale, for her part, left prison and kept on the right side of the law thereafter. She was unrepentant until her death at the age of 82. The film, Baltimore is still in some cinemas, however I have yet to see it.
The paintings are now more securely held (presumably) by being in the National Gallery and the story of the heist forms part of a much broader history of art-theft. Obviously, the problem with stealing multi-million-euro famous paintings is what to do with them afterwards. They cannot be sold, and I would imagine become something of a burden. If you happen to be the type of mythological art-loving millionaire criminal in the style of Dr. No, you would presumably be better off just purchasing art works legally. This was discussed in an interesting podcast I listened to recently regarding the theft of a Da Vinci painting, The Madonna of the Yarnwinder, from a Scottish Castle.[iii]
[i] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/18/rose-dugdale-obituary
[ii] https://web.archive.org/web/20061210164228/http://www.nationalgallery.ie/html/paintings.html
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