By Christina Santucci
A painting by well-known American artist Norman Rockwell was stolen from a Maspeth art shipping and storage facility last month, police said.
Authorities believe the work, which is titled “Sport” and is about 28 inches in height, was taken from Welpak Art Moving and Storage, at 58-60 Grand Ave., around 7 p.m. Sept. 13.
Welpak provides fine art shipping and climate-controlled services like storage, transportation, crating, packing, installation and shipping, and caters to museums, art galleries, foundations, private collectors and art dealers, according to its website.
Rockwell’s oil on canvas painting, which police say has a gold-colored wooden frame, had been sold earlier this year by a private collection in Birmingham, Ala. for more than $1 million at Sotheby’s, the New York Post reported.
Painted in 1939 and signed by the artist on the lower right corner, the image shows a man in a row boat wearing a yellow rain jacket and holding a fishing pole, police said.
In 1939, the work was used as the Saturday Evening Post cover, authorities said.
Reach Managing Editor Christina Santucci by phone at 718-260-4589 or by email at timesledgerphotos@gmail.com.
