Film 'The Duke' revisits 1961 Goya theft and class tensions in art

Roger Michell's 2022 film 'The Duke' dramatizes the 1961 theft of Francisco de Goya's 'Portrait of the Duke of Wellington' from London's National Gallery. The painting had been purchased for £140,000 by the British government to prevent its acquisition by an American collector. Kempton Bunton, a 61-year-old former taxi driver from Newcastle, stole the artwork on August 21, 1961, and returned it in 1965. Bunton's motivation stemmed from outrage over public spending on art while he campaigned for free television licenses for pensioners. Jim Broadbent portrays Bunton in the film, with Helen Mirren playing his wife Dorothy. The theft remained unsolved for four years, during which the missing painting appeared in the 1962 James Bond film 'Dr. No.' Bunton was acquitted of theft charges at trial, convicted only for the cost of the frame. The film connects Bunton's populist protest to contemporary debates about BBC funding and recent acquittals like the 'Colston Four' in Bristol.