Dydyk, who pleaded innocent to the charge, said he inadvertently took the painting home but later decided to sell it in a May 3 garage sale, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported May 30. Police now say a second Barrow painting changed hands at the same sale, and a grand jury will determine whether Dydyk faces further charges.
County records show that Barrow donated 52 paintings to the library in 1905, but about a dozen of those remaining are in “very bad condition,” County Auditor Tom Squires said May 29. Squires also found a handful of empty Barrow frames in the basement of the Beauchamp branch. “It made us wonder if those frames held Barrow paintings that became so decrepit that the canvas crumbled,” he said.
Although Dydyk only received $200 for the portrait of Ben Porter, it was later appraised locally at $50,000. However, Syracuse University Fine Arts Professor David Tatham disputed that assessment in the June 3 Post-Standard, saying that a collector might only pay as much as $12,000.
Posted June 9, 20033.