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'The Nose' Goes Astray in Frankfurt

The St. Petersburg Times

For The St. Petersburg Times Alimov's illustration portraying Major Kovalyov's nose crossing Palace Square.

ST. PETERSBURG - The famous illustration of the nose from satirist Nikolai Gogol's story of the same name that was stolen from the Frankfurt Book Fair last week has been recovered.

The illustration was the centerpiece of a display of illustrations at the book fair, where Russian publications are this year's main feature.

RIA-Novosti reported Friday that Igor Shutnyev, a French citizen and former resident of Minsk, took the illustration on Thursday.

The work of art is by Sergei Alimov and was used to illustrate a special edition of Gogol's works. It was valued at 4,000 euros ($4,680).

Alimov is in Moscow, but his brother, Boris, head of the creative union of book artists for the Moscow Union of Artists, is at the fair and was outraged by the theft.

According to Russian media, the suspect told other people in the fair's Russian pavilion that he had just been given the painting and asked for help wrapping it. When help was not forthcoming, he left the pavilion without attracting attention.

RIA-Novosti cited Nelly Petkova, director of the "Russia - Guest of Honor" program at the fair as saying that the next morning the suspect was seen in a Marriott hotel in Frankfurt. Staff from the Russian pavilion were discussing the menu of Russian dishes being prepared for a festival of Russian cooking on Sunday, she said.

"The unlucky thief went up to a chef and offered to sell him the painting," Petkova said.

"The Russian staff of the exhibition standing nearby immediately recognized the stolen illustration."

"One of them tried to engage the 'seller' in conversation while the others called the police."

Petkova said the painting was slightly damaged and without its frame, but that it would be returned to the exhibition.

Shutnyev was detained by the police.

Artistic portrayals of the nose, which belongs to one Major Kovalyov, seem to take on a life of their own.

In Gogol's short story "The Nose," Kovalyov wakes up one morning to discover that his nose has vanished and is wandering around St. Petersburg wearing a uniform, impersonating a state councilor and causing him trouble.

Last year, a 100-kilogram sculpture of the nose went missing from the side of an apartment building on 11 Prospekt Rimskogo-Korsakova in St. Petersburg.

It has recently been returned to its former position.

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