Stolen George Smart paintings recovered seven years after theft

Two paintings are set to go on show again seven years after they were stolen from the artist's home village.

Three pieces by George Smart were among four artworks taken from Frant Memorial Hall, near Tunbridge Wells, in a burglary in 2015.

Two were recovered after an expert on the artist spotted them on sale at an auction house.

The damaged works, worth about £5,000 once restored, are likely to go back on display with improved security.

George Smart was a tailor who lived in the village on the Kent-Sussex border until his death, as a relative unknown, in 1846.

Although he was celebrated in local guide books during his lifetime, it was only after some of his paintings were featured in an exhibition of British folk art at Tate Britain in London, in 2014, that his work became more widely acclaimed.

In May 2015, three of his paintings, along with one by a lesser-known artist, were ripped from their frames in Frant's village hall and stolen in what police believe was a planned burglary.

But now, thanks to the alertness of Jonathan Christie, another Frant resident artist, two of the paintings are back in the village, albeit slightly worse for wear.

Mr Christie, who has also written a book about Smart, discovered that two of the paintings - one of a local known as the Goosewoman and another of Old Bright, the postman - were listed for sale at a Kent auction.

And after investigations to confirm their provenance, he is now helping to restore them before they are returned for display once the village hall committee decides on new security measures.

As a follower of Smart, Mr Christie had set up email alerts for whenever the artist's work came up for sale.

He told BBC Radio Kent: "They came to light when an auction house in Kent posted them up for auction. They were unframed, which raised my suspicions, and when I checked them out they were clearly the stolen pictures."

He added: "I wasn't really deliberately searching for them, but I always wondered whether they would pop up eventually.

"Another version of The Postman... is still missing. It's a slightly earlier one and a little bit unusual. But for some reason, that wasn't in the same auction.

"It's still out there, hopefully."

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