Back in 2013, we reported that Patrick Procktor’s celebrated murals depicting views of Venice had been removed from the upstairs room at Langan's Brasserie off Piccadilly in London (entertaining aside: the entrepreneur Peter Langan varnished over part of the Italian vista in a drunken rage). The sweeping panorama of La Serenissima was due to be sold at Christie's, a move which enflamed the late UK artist’s devotees including the London-based artist Alessandro Raho. But a Christie’s spokeswoman says: “I recommend contacting the owners to confirm their whereabouts and whether or not they are in storage.” So we did—and Langan’s told us that the works are indeed in storage and have not been sold (“to the best of my knowledge”, a spokesman says). “The fate of the murals concerns me very much. They are not only one of Procktor's most impressive works, but also constitute one of the most important examples of British mural painting of the postwar period,” says his biographer, Ian Massey. Raho says, meanwhile, that a national collection should acquire the bewitching Venetian works.
