Is painting stolen? Museum is on the case

The San Diego Museum of Art has offered to return a painting added to its collection four years ago if it proves to have been stolen from a church in Mexico.

The museum in Balboa Park purchased “Expulsion From the Garden of Eden” -- a 70-by-46-inch oil-on-canvas work painted in 1728 by an unknown artist -- from a Mexico City gallery in late 2000. Mexican government officials are engaged in an investigation to determine whether the painting is one of three religious objects that disappeared earlier that year from the church in the village of San Juan Tepemazalco in the state of Hidalgo.

Museum officials say that they followed professional guidelines when purchasing the painting but later discovered discrepancies in its provenance and effectively launched the investigation by seeking clarification from the Special Cultural Center in Hidalgo.

Working through diplomatic channels, the museum has asked Mexican authorities to send the painting’s frame and other fragments left behind at the time of the reported theft. If the fragments fit around the edges of the “Expulsion” in San Diego, the museum will restore the painting, return it to Mexico and demand a refund from the gallery.