In Scotland, they are looking for a unique Rodin sculpture worth 3 million pounds

The plaster statue disappeared back in 1949, but the search continues to this day.

Glasgow museum bosses have been unable to find a statue of French sculptor Auguste Rodin, part of his famous Citizens of Calais group. Its cost is estimated at 3 million pounds sterling.

The plaster sculpture, bought by Glasgow Museums from the artist in 1901, was displayed in Kelvingrove Park from June 25 to September 30, 1949, according to Glasgow Life. However, the sculpture is among 1,750 missing or stolen works of art.

According to the Rodin Committee, which catalogs the artist’s work around the world, the two-meter-tall sculpture represents Jean d’Ayr, one of the members of the Calais group, which was attacked by vandals after World War II. Glasgow Life confirms that the missing statue “sustained damage” during the 1949 Outdoor Sculpture exhibition, along with Rodin’s other Saint-Jean de Baptiste sculpture.

Officials said the Citizens of Calais group is known to have been injured during the exhibition and the whereabouts of one of its units is currently unknown. Another sculpture is in storage at the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.

Committee director Jérôme le Blay told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the disappearance was “regrettable but must be seen in the context of the times” as there was little interest in plaster work in the 1940s. According to his estimates, the cost of work today will be about 3.5 million euros.

The Rodin Committee believes the statue may have suffered the same fate as another of the artist’s works of John the Baptist, which was exhibited at the same time in Kelvingrove. The sculpture was broken and the remains are kept in the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre.

Bronze statues of six citizens of Calais celebrating the sacrifice of dignitaries during the siege of the northern French city by English armies during the Hundred Years’ War were commissioned by the municipality and unveiled in 1895. Numerous bronze and plaster versions of the statue exist around the world, occupying places of honor in cities, including the Gardens of Parliament in London. The sculpture was allowed under French law to create different versions of the “citizens”.

Le Blay hopes that the remains of the missing object can be found in the archives at a later date: “We lose a part of our humanity when we lose a work of art. Museums can hold 100,000 artifacts, so sometimes things get dropped or lost in transit. Works of art are often destroyed – this is life. But when they go missing due to mistreatment or mistreatment by people, it is extremely shameful. It is indeed very sad to find that Glasgow has lost art of such significance and importance.”

About 1,750 other items have disappeared from Scottish museums, including gold coins associated with Mary I, Queen of Scots, who reigned in the 16th century, according to The Times.

The British Museum also recently admitted the theft of thousands of artifacts from its holdings, prompting the resignation of its director.

According to British media reports, museums in Wales discovered that 2,000 items were missing. It is argued that many items may have simply been lost or misclassified and that they could have been found during the inventory.

A spokesman for Glasgow Life told Scotland News the company had spent 20 years “taking inventory” of items in its collection, including retrieving items previously reported as lost. It is noted that “the process of recording, cataloging and caring for Glasgow Museums’ collection has improved significantly since its founding in the 1860s. For 30 years, we have achieved cataloging using the museum’s collection management system.”