Missing artwork returned to Westminster woman
Published: March 16, 2005
Sometimes in this business you can make a difference. Eve Webb, native Parisian, now living in Westminster, thought seven of her treasured works were gone for good.
The artwork, still lifes and landscapes depicting scenes from France and Spain, had been on display, and for sale, at a French restaurant in Cherry Creek.
The restaurant went out of business a few months ago, and its owners, Jean Pierre and Aline Mantel, skipped the country, returning to France. In their wake, they left thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and other bills, and left no clue about where Eve Webb’s artwork was.
“I certainly was in my right to think they took them,” said Webb.
On March 10, 9News ran a story about Webb and her missing artwork. The story also revealed bills left unpaid by the Mantels when they left the country.
Then on Sunday, the Denver Post ran a similar story about Webb. There was significant response to the stories, which energized Webb’s efforts to track down her artwork. She then obtained an e-mail address for the Mantels, and wrote to them, informing them of the media reports and asking if they knew where her art was.
“She freaked out,” Webb said of Aline, who responded via e-mail.
Aline told Webb in her haste to pack up and move, she took the paintings to a friend’s house in Denver, but never told Webb. Aline then arranged to have that friend transport the work to a yarn shop where Webb teaches knitting classes.
Wednesday morning, 9News accompanied Webb to the yarn shop, where she was reunited with her work.
“There they are, there they are!” she said. “I am so pleased to get my paintings back, you have no idea!”
The oil and acrylic paintings include “La Finca,” one of Webb’s favorites. It depicts an old building in a field, with a ewe in the foreground.
“I’ve been there, to that place,” she said. “There is a lot of feeling going on there, associated with the people I knew at the time.”
It was not the first time Webb has had pieces disappear from a restaurant that had been displaying them. But it will be the last time.
“They can beg, they will not get,” she said. “Uh uh, that’s it!”
The artwork will either be displayed in a gallery, given out as gifts, or remain in safe keeping with Webb at her Westminster condominium.
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