HEADACHE ART “Those were some of the most difficult days of my life.” GILES WATERFIELD GILES WATERFIELD, director of the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, was supposed to be relaxing. He woke up in Scotland on his first holiday that year, excited about attending the Edinburgh International Festival—music, poetry, literature. He hadn’t even left a telephone number where he could be contacted by staff. Waterfield was out of bed by 9 AM and strolled from the art dealer’s apartment where he was staying to nearby Waverley train station, where he bought a copy of The Times. He scanned the front page of the most venerated newspaper in England. The date was August 15, 1981. “It was right there in bold letters: ‘Rembrandt Stolen for Third Time,’” remembered Waterfield. Waterfield and I met because my younger sister was studying art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Waterfield was her professor and thesis adviser, and she mentioned to him that I was in the middle of writing a book about international art theft.
