– The Royal Court investigated the case and did not find that the artworks came from the castle, responds deputy communications director Sven Gjeruldsen to a request from NRK.

Gunnar Hjelde, who was responsible for the first inventory of the castle in the 1960s, also does not know that the paintings should have been removed from the castle during the war.

– I don’t know. King Olav never told me about it and he should have known, Hjelde told NRK.

Located in the basement

The four paintings are now in the basement of a gallery in Canada. Two of the most famous and important Norwegian artists of the 19th century, Adolph Tidemand and JC Dahl, are responsible for two of the paintings.

The paintings were bequeathed to the gallery in 1993 by Emmy Graf-Howard, who is said to have been a maid at the castle. According to Jon Tupper, now the gallery’s director, the story goes that she was tasked with transporting the paintings out of Norway during the war.

The only problem is that the Palace cannot find an “Emmy Graf” in its archives.

– Skeptical

So far, the gallery has found no answers as to the origin of the images. Investigations into the stolen art register in London and investigations in Norway have so far yielded no results.

Hans Richard Elgheim of Grev Wedel’s Plass Auksjoner in Oslo is surprised that the case is still unsolved. After 17 years, he believes that Canadians should know if they stole goods from the cellar.

– It’s likely that if the matter is serious enough, you’ll keep going until you get an answer. Personally, I doubt the whole story, and I think the way the gallery describes it suggests that they themselves don’t particularly believe it.

The question, of course, is why the alleged maid did not return the pictures after the war. Whether this was the most well-executed art theft in Norwegian history or whether honourable intentions brought these paintings to Canada 70 years ago remains a mystery for now.

– As long as the story continues and clings to the images, I think they will not have their natural place in Canada. Then I think they should be sent back to Norway, Elgheim tells NRK.