BOSTON (
MyFoxBoston.com) -- Boston Mayor Marty Walsh met with top officials at the Boston Public Library late Tuesday afternoon, a week after word got out that somebody lost track of artwork created by Rembrandt and Albrecht Durer.
The art was
reported missing to police last month, and it became known to the public last week.
The work is valued at more than $600,000.
Mayor Walsh told FOX25 he has questions about how the artwork can just disappear.
"You can't lose $600,000-plus worth of artwork in the city of Boston and have a good rationale for it," he said.
On Friday, FOX25's political reporter Sharman Sacchetti
investigated how much money the city and the state dedicates to the library.
The city dedicates $33 million to the library, and more than $3 million come from the state.
Sacchetti also reported on the taxpayer funded salaries of those at the top. The library's president, Amy Ryan, made more than $180,000 last year.
Mayor Walsh says during his meeting he plans to address questions FOX25 has raised, including why it took so long to report the artwork missing, and what the process is moving forward of keeping track of the art.
Susan Glover, the keeper of special collections, was put on leave after the art was found to be missing. Her salary is listed at almost $107,000.
When asked about an internal audit of the works of art, Mayor Walsh said if that happens, it would be led by the mayor's office, not by the library.
After the meeting, president Amy Ryan released a statement. The full statement is below:
"Today Jeff Rudman, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Boston Public Library, and I met with Mayor Walsh to review the situation of the missing Durer engraving and the Rembrandt etching. A federal investigation into these two significant pieces of the BPL's Print Collection is currently underway.
We recognize the balance of the Boston Public Library's mission to make our collections available to the more than 3.7 million annual visitors to our system, while maintaining the security of our holdings.
I was notified of the missing Albrecht Durer engraving on Friday, April 10 and learned that it had been missing for almost a year, a time gap of significant concern which will be part of the administrative investigation.
I notified Chair Rudman the next day, on Saturday. Working with our legal team, I directed an immediate internal search which was launched on Monday, April 13. As a result of this search, staff discovered that a Rembrandt etching was also missing.
While still hopeful that the prints were misfiled, it was clear that the BPL may have been the victim of a crime.
On Wednesday, April 15, Jeff Rudman and I contacted the office of Mayor Walsh and Commissioner Evans. The Boston Police Department then launched a criminal investigation while we continued our internal search which is still ongoing.
BPL's security protocols in allowing the public to view our special collections are equivalent to standards being used by institutions across the nation to protect their valuable materials. There is limited employee access to the print collection, and controlled public access.
We are beginning an independent review of these protocols now as part of BPL's ongoing work to invest and update our security systems as standards and technology evolve.
The Boston Public Library is cooperating fully with the investigation by the Boston Police Department and the FBI, and staying in close contact with Mayor Walsh. We will be calling a special meeting of the Boston Public Library's Board of Trustees in the coming days. It is our hope to see this situation resolved swiftly and thoroughly.”
