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Hello everyone,
Here is the translation of an article about the publication of a book – it dates back to February 2024, but I must admit I completely missed it – written by a certain Johann Naldi, a gallery owner and 19th-century specialist (not translated into English). The book in question is titled The Unique Portrait of Jack the Ripper (Éditions de l’Observatoire).
The original article in French can be found here: https://lejournal.info/article/jack-...si-cetait-lui/
I won’t go into too much detail; all of this is based on very little: admittedly, it is likely that the painting discovered is indeed by Jacques-Émile Blanche and does indeed depict his friend Walter Sickert. As for the rest, even if it’s true that the character’s gaze in the painting is undeniably that of a psychopath, concluding that Walter Sickert = Jack the Ripper is quite a leap...
For those who understand French, I’ve added a link below to an interview given by the author to a journalist from Figaro TV. He explains how he discovered the painting during an auction in the south of France and how he acquired it for just a few hundred euros.
Here is the painting:
And here is the article:
Jack the Ripper. What if it was him?
The mysterious painting depicts a man in a raincoat with a raised collar, a disturbing sidelong gaze, a top hat, and holding an umbrella...
By Thierry Gandillot
Published on 02/17/2024
Who is Jack the Ripper, the serial killer who, between August 5 and November 9, 1888, unleashed horrifying sadism on six women in London’s East End? Among the more or less conspiratorial hypotheses—Masonic or royal family conspiracies—there are around a hundred suspects, most of them far-fetched, with only two or three considered “serious.”
In her sensational Portrait of a Killer, published in 2003, crime fiction queen Patricia Cornwell suggests the name of William Sickert, a renowned impressionist painter. She reportedly spent a million euros to prove her theory. The problem: Sickert was in Dieppe at the time of the first murders. But he could easily have crossed the Channel—just three and a half hours in good weather, no passport required... And it’s certain he was in London by at least September 28.
A treasure hunter—Géricault, Courbet, Delacroix are among his finds—Johann Naldi aligns with Cornwell’s theory, to which he dedicates his book. The story begins on November 28, 2020, at the Avignon auction house. In the catalog, Naldi is struck by lot no. 22, a 78×50 cm painting labeled “French school from the late 19th century.” The painting shows a man in a raincoat with his collar raised, seemingly to hide his face, a disturbing sidelong gaze, wearing a top hat and holding an umbrella. The auction takes place online. The hammer falls: sold for 6,100 euros.
When the painting arrives, Naldi is dazzled by its quality. Surely not the work of a minor artist. Very quickly, one detail intrigues him—the enormous wheel of an overturned handcart. And it’s precisely a carter, Charles Cross, who discovered Jack the Ripper’s first victim! Continuing his research, Naldi learns that a painter, Walter Sickert, a tortured and borderline psychopathic artist, was fascinated by Jack to the point of staying in a room that might have been the killer’s and painting scenes inspired by it—grim ones, as you can imagine.
Naldi keeps pondering. What if Walter Sickert was the man depicted in the painting with the handcart he just bought? But then, who painted it? Among the artists close to Sickert, he points to his friend Jacques-Émile Blanche: after all, he painted a portrait of Sickert, which can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery.
After subjecting the painting to extensive scientific analysis, Naldi notices traces of fingerprints. Could they be Blanche’s—or even Sickert’s? We’ll never know. On the back of the canvas, on the frame, invisible to the naked eye, scientific analysis reveals two letters: “Bl”—as in Blanche. Furthermore, the canvas was supplied by Foinet Fils & Lefebvre, who provided materials to both Blanche and... Sickert. Other clues, particularly ambiguous statements made by Blanche about Sickert toward the end of his life, suggest he was privy to a heavy secret.
So, is the “cold case” solved? While there’s little doubt that Avignon’s “lot 22” is indeed the work of Jacques-Émile Blanche, the idea that Sickert was the Whitechapel killer is far less certain. Naldi titled his painting Portrait of William Sickert as Jack the Ripper. This doesn’t mean he was Jack the Ripper—even if Jacques-Émile Blanche imagined him to be...
https://video.lefigaro.fr/figaro/video/jack-leventreur-le-visage-du-celebre-tueur-enfin-revele-le-livre-de-johann-naldi/
Here is the translation of an article about the publication of a book – it dates back to February 2024, but I must admit I completely missed it – written by a certain Johann Naldi, a gallery owner and 19th-century specialist (not translated into English). The book in question is titled The Unique Portrait of Jack the Ripper (Éditions de l’Observatoire).
The original article in French can be found here: https://lejournal.info/article/jack-...si-cetait-lui/
I won’t go into too much detail; all of this is based on very little: admittedly, it is likely that the painting discovered is indeed by Jacques-Émile Blanche and does indeed depict his friend Walter Sickert. As for the rest, even if it’s true that the character’s gaze in the painting is undeniably that of a psychopath, concluding that Walter Sickert = Jack the Ripper is quite a leap...
For those who understand French, I’ve added a link below to an interview given by the author to a journalist from Figaro TV. He explains how he discovered the painting during an auction in the south of France and how he acquired it for just a few hundred euros.
Here is the painting:
And here is the article:
Jack the Ripper. What if it was him?
The mysterious painting depicts a man in a raincoat with a raised collar, a disturbing sidelong gaze, a top hat, and holding an umbrella...
By Thierry Gandillot
Published on 02/17/2024
Who is Jack the Ripper, the serial killer who, between August 5 and November 9, 1888, unleashed horrifying sadism on six women in London’s East End? Among the more or less conspiratorial hypotheses—Masonic or royal family conspiracies—there are around a hundred suspects, most of them far-fetched, with only two or three considered “serious.”
In her sensational Portrait of a Killer, published in 2003, crime fiction queen Patricia Cornwell suggests the name of William Sickert, a renowned impressionist painter. She reportedly spent a million euros to prove her theory. The problem: Sickert was in Dieppe at the time of the first murders. But he could easily have crossed the Channel—just three and a half hours in good weather, no passport required... And it’s certain he was in London by at least September 28.
A treasure hunter—Géricault, Courbet, Delacroix are among his finds—Johann Naldi aligns with Cornwell’s theory, to which he dedicates his book. The story begins on November 28, 2020, at the Avignon auction house. In the catalog, Naldi is struck by lot no. 22, a 78×50 cm painting labeled “French school from the late 19th century.” The painting shows a man in a raincoat with his collar raised, seemingly to hide his face, a disturbing sidelong gaze, wearing a top hat and holding an umbrella. The auction takes place online. The hammer falls: sold for 6,100 euros.
When the painting arrives, Naldi is dazzled by its quality. Surely not the work of a minor artist. Very quickly, one detail intrigues him—the enormous wheel of an overturned handcart. And it’s precisely a carter, Charles Cross, who discovered Jack the Ripper’s first victim! Continuing his research, Naldi learns that a painter, Walter Sickert, a tortured and borderline psychopathic artist, was fascinated by Jack to the point of staying in a room that might have been the killer’s and painting scenes inspired by it—grim ones, as you can imagine.
Naldi keeps pondering. What if Walter Sickert was the man depicted in the painting with the handcart he just bought? But then, who painted it? Among the artists close to Sickert, he points to his friend Jacques-Émile Blanche: after all, he painted a portrait of Sickert, which can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery.
After subjecting the painting to extensive scientific analysis, Naldi notices traces of fingerprints. Could they be Blanche’s—or even Sickert’s? We’ll never know. On the back of the canvas, on the frame, invisible to the naked eye, scientific analysis reveals two letters: “Bl”—as in Blanche. Furthermore, the canvas was supplied by Foinet Fils & Lefebvre, who provided materials to both Blanche and... Sickert. Other clues, particularly ambiguous statements made by Blanche about Sickert toward the end of his life, suggest he was privy to a heavy secret.
So, is the “cold case” solved? While there’s little doubt that Avignon’s “lot 22” is indeed the work of Jacques-Émile Blanche, the idea that Sickert was the Whitechapel killer is far less certain. Naldi titled his painting Portrait of William Sickert as Jack the Ripper. This doesn’t mean he was Jack the Ripper—even if Jacques-Émile Blanche imagined him to be...
https://video.lefigaro.fr/figaro/video/jack-leventreur-le-visage-du-celebre-tueur-enfin-revele-le-livre-de-johann-naldi/
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