It was a pain in our butt.”Fortunately, Rummel knew a guy. The Case of the Missing Picasso, revealed here for the first time, goes back. Back before the much more notorious theft of 13 works of art from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. Back, in a sense, to a time before Picasso had even painted the piece in question. Back to the 1950s of Waterville, Maine, where the Rummel boys — Bill and his younger brother, Whit — were testing their hometown’s Yankee forbearance.

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Persons: ”, Rummel, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner, Picasso, Bill, Whit — Organizations: Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Yankee Locations: Waterville , Maine, Woolworth’s