Who Transported the Goya? (Continued)

I know the answer to this question, but I can't tell you. Still, with the imminent, if belated, arrival of Goya's "Children with a Cart" at the Guggenheim Museum's Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso, it is time to revisit the subject of the lost-and-found Goya, which suffered a little mishap in November, on its way to New York from the Toledo Museum, Ohio.

After the botched theft, I did find out, from my impeccable contacts, the identity of the shipper. The name did not come from the Guggenheim, which at the time only told me: "It is a company that everybody uses and will still have to use, because there are so few of them and it's the best."

But when I received yesterday's press announcement about the late addition to the exhibition, I made another round of phone calls. I still believe that the public ought to be told the identity of the shipper on whose watch this theft occurred. But I need someone to give me that name on the record.

First, I called the shipping company itself. The receptionist checked with his superiors, and then informed me, "We do not want to talk to the press about that situation." That told me all I needed to know, but not enough to print the name.

Next I called Stephen Siegel, media representative for the Newark Division of the FBI, which is handling the ongoing investigation. He declined to release the name of the shipper, but said that the museums were free to do so: "It's entirely up to them."

I'm now waiting to hear back from the Guggenheim.

What I CAN tell you, for now, is that although no arrests in connection with the failed theft have yet been made, "they will be forthcoming," Siegel informed me.

The Guggenheim stated in its press release that Toledo's Goya "will now join [on Feb. 16] the already 21 paintings by that great artist" in the Spanish painting show. "After the exhibition closes, 'Children with a Cart' will return to the Toledo Museum of Art."

Or so we hope.