A story with a happy ending

In a brief article in the September 6- 7, 2014 issue of The Wall Street Journal (“A Museum Wins the Arm Race”), Alexandra Wolfe recounts the story of “Neptune’s Daughter”, a sculpture by Melvin Earl Cummings which was on display for decades in the garden of the de Young Museum until it was vandalized in 2011– one of its arms was detached and taken from the site. It was written off as a total loss by the insurance company. However, in 2012, the missing arm was anonymously returned to the museum. The sculpture was restored and will soon go back on display. How nice that this conservation story had a happy ending as the work could well have been relegated forever to a storeroom or insurance company back office like other art works which have been declared beyond repair.