A Painting That Should Not Exist: The Aldermoor Art Fraud

A Painting That Should Not Exist: The Aldermoor Art Fraud A cold February morning revealed a thirty-by-forty-four-inch oil landscape leaning against the Aldermoor Institute's exterior wall, frost still hard and the temperature twenty-two degrees - a painting the museum's records said had been missing since 2009. How did a work deaccessioned in a nine-page file resurface outdoors two years later, and who profited from the gaps in the paperwork? In this episode, we tell the story of what was found at Aldermoor, who handled the deaccession paperwork, and which specialists and investigators became involved as questions mounted. What failures in process and trust allowed a painting to vanish from the catalogue and later appear where no one expected? Person: Charles O'Brien Location: Aldermoor Institute, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Date (found): a Tuesday morning in February, 2011 Size: roughly 30 by 44 inches Temperature at discovery: 22 degrees - The canvas measured roughly thirty by forty-four inches and depicted a muted ochre and grey lowland landscape. - Institutional records indicated the painting had been gone since 2009 despite being found outside in 2011. - Paul Wicker had been director of the Aldermoor Institute since 2001 and oversaw thirty-one deaccessions. - Megan Davis, age fifty-one, ran Davis Conservation and Appraisal in Kensington, Philadelphia, specializing in American regionalist painting. - The deaccession file for "Lowland, Late Season" was nine pages long and recommended a sale at $11,000, with the board approving a final sale at $9,500. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].