The Woman Who Stole Vermeer

Starred review from June 1, 2020

Amore's (director of security, chief investigator, Isabella Gardner Museum; The Art of the Con) absorbing work spotlights Rose Dugdale, an English heiress who in the 1970s became a revolutionary activist intent on freeing Ireland and ending capitalism. In 1974, she led the Irish Republican Army in a heist of noteworthy works from the Russborough House in Ireland; among the works taken was Johannes Vermeer's Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid. Details of Dugdale's life--a well-heeled, spirited debutante studying economics at Oxford who became impassioned by the burgeoning student protests around her--are intertwined with an account of the Troubles in England and Ireland. Amore provides effective context for Dugdale's radical actions and offers an examination of the significance of Vermeer's art that bolsters the sophistication of her crimes. Readers will be enthralled by the many worlds Dugdale seemed to inhabit; those curious about art crime may also enjoy Robert K. Wittman's Priceless. VERDICT A captivating book that will entertain fans across genres with its seamless blend of true crime, biography, and art history.--Kate Bellody, SUNY New Paltz

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2020
A rollicking biography of a female art thief. In his lively third book about art and crime, Amore, the director of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, tells the story of a "fiery, bold, and brash" Englishwoman who stole for nationalistic reasons. Bridget Rose Dugdale (b. 1941) is a "true outlier and major figure in the annals of criminal history." Born into a wealthy family, she studied philosophy, politics, and economics at several colleges. A position at the Ministry of Overseas Development was "crucial" to her becoming an activist, as was her reading of Marx's Das Kapital, with its discussion of British imperialism in Ireland. Dugdale was invigorated by seeing Cuba's revolution in person, attending protests in Manchester, and visiting Northern Ireland. The Bloody Sunday protests were "responsible for her foray into Irish politics," as she transitioned from "intellectual activist to militant operative." Englishman Walter Heaton, a married "revolutionary socialist," became her comrade in arms and, later, her lover. Dugdale's aggressive activism earned her the nickname "Angel of Tottenham." In 1973, she broke into one of her family's estates and stole eight valuable paintings to fence for the Irish Republican Army, a crime for which she received a suspended sentence. With two "local toughs," she hijacked a helicopter in a botched aerial bombing of a British police station in Northern Ireland. As Amore writes, Dugdale had "elevated her status from gunrunner and rabble-rouser to bona fide terrorist." In 1974, Vermeer's painting The Guitar Player was stolen from England's Kenwood House. Amore believes Dugdale was the thief, but it was never proven. Then came the "biggest theft in the world," as Amore extravagantly describes it: Dugdale and her IRA cronies brazenly stole 19 paintings from Ireland's Russborough House, including Vermeer's Woman Writing a Letter With Her Maid. She only stood trial for the bombing and was sentenced to nine years. Released in 1980, Dugdale has become "something of an icon in Ireland." A captivating, detail-rich biography of a "criminal legend."

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September 7, 2020
Amore (The Art of the Con) charts in this engrossing account the transformation of Rose Dugdale from a privileged English debutante into a committed radical and fighter for the liberation of Northern Ireland from British rule. During Rose’s childhood in Devon, her authoritarian mother demanded her compliance with social class expectations, but Rose’s political beliefs shifted to the left at Oxford and led her to participate in revolutionary action. In 1974, she and three others pulled off one of the most spectacular art heists ever: they stormed the home of Conservative MP Alfred Beit, stealing 19 paintings in less than 10 minutes, one of them Vermeer’s The Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid. Amore vividly describes how Rose was identified as the leader of the heist and the subsequent hunt for the perpetrators, as well as the circumstances of her capture and details of the trial, which she used as theater to advocate IRA ideas, though the group never recognized her as a member. Sentenced to nine years in prison, she was released in 1980. Thorough research is matched by prose that keeps the reader turning the pages. True crime and history buffs will revel in the saga of this truly fascinating woman. Agent: Sharlene Martin, Martin Literary Management.

October 1, 2020
Who was Rose Dugdale? According to Amore (The Art of the Con, 2015), she was history's first and only female mastermind and art thief of high-value, highly recognizable masterpieces. Indeed, Rose Dugdale was no garden-variety thief; she was from a wealthy English family, a former debutante with an Oxford PhD, a woman of privilege who believed in a cause and used her background, education, and inheritance to fight for it. Her passion? Irish Republicanism, and although she was not an official member of the IRA, she nevertheless joined one of its active service units, small cells of four-to-ten people responsible for armed attacks. The 18 masterpieces, among them Vermeer's Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid, stolen from the prestigious Russborough House were to be used as bargaining chips to negotiate a prison transfer for IRA members Dolours and Marian Price. Amore does a fine job of presenting the facts of Dugdale's life and dispelling the myths about her exploits. A fascinating account of political fervor and purpose and a woman who had the courage of her convictions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)