The Montreal police are investigating a break-in carried out near the end of last year at the home of a wealthy Ville-Marie borough resident just six days after he died.
According to two of the man’s friends, he had accumulated “millions of dollars” worth of art inside his home on Belvedere Circle, a small street on the Westmount Summit that straddles the Westmount/Ville-Marie border. The home is estimated to be worth $1.9 million on Montreal’s valuation roll.
The man’s friends worry pieces of valuable art, including paintings by Canadian artists like Emily Carr and members of the Group of Seven, were stolen.
According to information posted on a funeral home website, the man died “in his 78th year” on Dec. 24 and, on Thursday, a Montreal police spokesperson confirmed that they are investigating a break-in at the address on Dec. 30, four days after a funeral in Montreal that was attended by about two dozen people. It appears that no arrests have been made yet. The spokesperson said he was unable to provide more information, including what might have been stolen.
But one of the sources interviewed for this story said an art appraiser who knew the man well recently sent out an email to several people saying it appears works of art were stolen.
Three people said the man was assaulted at some point late last year, possibly a month before he died. Out of fear, he lived at a Montreal hotel for days following the assault and he did not want to file a complaint with the police, one of his friends said.
He and another friend said the man lived alone and had isolated himself from friends and loved ones in recent years. His house was covered “wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling” with paintings, one source said.
The rabbi who presided over the funeral said the art collector was a difficult man who struggled with things like addiction, according to a person who attended the funeral. The person asked to remain anonymous.
“He had priceless Japanese art,” said one of the man’s friends. “He was forever in the process of (trying to make an inventory). His garage was full of work worth millions that had not even been put on the walls yet. He gave quite a bit away to relatives before (he died). I have no idea to what extent or what he gave away, but I do know that over the years he accumulated millions of dollars of art.”
Another friend said the man kept a lot of cash and jewelry inside his home.
“He threw a lot of his friends under the bus over the past two years. He stopped talking to me,” the source said.
A source working in the Canadian art world said the man had at least one painting by Emily Carr and works by members of Canada’s Group of Seven, including Arthur Lismer and Frederick Varley.
“He was one of our top clients ever, spending millions of dollars throughout the years,” the source said. “He was very mysterious, very secretive.”
The source first met the man at an exhibition held in Montreal. The man introduced himself at the exhibition, but quickly asked to be left alone as he looked over the pieces on display.
“He was known in the art world as someone who changes his mind all the time and he was quick to turn on you,” she said. “He would suddenly just say: ‘I’m not doing business with you’.”
