4 years after vanishing, painting at heart of $11M lawsuit re-emerges — but mystery far from over
CBC
When his lawyer's name flashed on his phone early last month, Michael Murray ducked out to answer the call — the physician was in the middle of seeing patients at his medical clinic in Hawaii, but this call from Toronto felt important.
It turns out it was.
The lawyer said: "You're not going to believe it, but the painting has been found," Murray told CBC News in an interview.
"It was almost disbelief."
It had been 10 years since Murray had seen his painting — believed to be an unsigned original Tom Thomson painting of Tea Lake Dam in Algonquin Park in southeastern Ontario.
"To be quite honest with you, I never thought we would find that painting again," said Murray. "It was very surprising, very exciting actually."
While Murray is taking comfort that his painting has been located, it's unclear where exactly it was for about 10 years.
Murray says it was picked up in 2015 by a then-employee of Waddington's Auctioneers & Appraisers in Toronto, awaiting auction. But in 2021, the auction house told him it didn't have it.
He filed an $11-million lawsuit against Waddington's in 2022 seeking damages. In court documents, Waddington's said it never had the painting.
Then last month, the auction house sent a letter to Murray's lawyer, Steven Bookman, saying they'd found the painting.
A lawyer for the auction house told CBC News it can't comment on the discovery because the matter is still before the courts.
And so the mystery — in part — lives on.
Bookman told CBC News few details were shared with him in the letter from Waddington's — including precisely where the painting was found.
"They didn't tell us exactly. They just indicated that it was in a climate-controlled storeroom."
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
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