The creator of a solid gold toilet worth £4.8 million which was stolen from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace is said to be “praying the theft is a prank”.
The 18 carat lavatory was ripped from a wood-panelled room at the stately home in Oxfordshire in the early hours of Saturday. Blenheim Palace chief executive Dominic Hare today rejected claims that Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, who created the sculpture, titled America, had orchestrated its theft in a Banksy-style prank.
Mr Hare told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think he would be mortified by that suggestion and has said so. That simply hasn’t happened here…He was mortified, shocked, praying that it was a prank and that it would come back.”
Mr Hare said the work has been valued at about $6million (£4.8 million). He added that security at Blenheim “needed to be challenged” after the theft — although there was always a risk involved in showing art. “We have a sophisticated security system. We have no incidents of this type in living memory — but the truth is, this has happened and we are now challenged to look hard at ourselves and improve again.”
Cattelan, 58, is understood to have attended a reception party at the estate on Friday. America was the centrepiece of his first UK solo exhibition in two decades, which opened the day before.
Thames Valley police believe the thieves used at least two vehicles. A 66-year-old man arrested on Saturday has been released on police bail.
