Chapter 26: Wiltons
Spoiler Notice: This page reveals plot details from Chapter 26 of An Inside Job.
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Summary
Julian Isherwood is taken aboard a private jet over the Netherlands, where Peter van de Velde and an unnamed Italian partner present a heavily restored portrait of a fair-haired woman. Van de Velde asks if Julian recognizes the picture; Julian soon detects fresh rabbit‑skin glue and sees that the left eye’s brushwork resembles Leonardo’s hand. Outraged by the botched restoration, he resolves to rescue the painting but hides his fury. When the partner refuses to let the picture leave for scientific analysis, Julian jokingly offers to buy it. The man sets the bidding at two hundred and fifty million dollars. Dropped at Le Bourget instead of Schiphol, Julian phones Sarah, then takes the Eurostar to London and arrives at Wiltons. There he greets the usual art‑world crowd before settling at the bar with Gabriel Allon and Sarah Bancroft. He confirms the painting is a Leonardo. Sarah reveals she tracked the plane via its identification code to Lugano, Switzerland, where the Italian and his bodyguards went to SBL PrivatBank. Flight records also show recent stops in Dubai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, suggesting they are shopping the masterpiece. Gabriel decides they will wait for the thieves’ next mistake before moving.
Key Events
- Julian evaluates the portrait mid‑flight: he notes the walnut panel, oak support, absence of markings, and the telltale left eye.
- Van de Velde’s partner insists the painting stays with them and names a $250 million starting price.
- Julian is diverted to Paris, phones Sarah, and reaches Wiltons just before five o’clock.
- At Wiltons he encounters Oliver Dimbleby and trades banter before joining Gabriel and Sarah.
- Sarah explains how she used the aircraft’s alphanumeric code to track the plane to Lugano and a bank in the Piazza della Riforma.
- Flight logs reveal recent trips to Dubai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, indicating the painting is being shown to potential buyers.
- Gabriel refuses to confront Van de Velde directly, preferring to let the thieves’ overconfidence produce another exploitable error.
Character Development
Julian Isherwood
His professional eye is poisoned by fury at the painting’s mistreatment. He calls the restoration “dreadful” and privately vows to rescue the work, yet he maintains a poker face and resorts to his trademark “professional duplicity.” At Wiltons he slides back into comfortable repartee, joking with Dimbleby about a sanatorium and his “three weeks to live.”
Gabriel Allon
Gabriel is the calm strategist. He lets Julian make the initial assessment, then uses intelligence Sarah gathered to map the enemy’s moves. He explicitly states that confronting Van de Velde would cost them their greatest advantage, and he counsels patience.
Sarah Bancroft
Sarah demonstrates cold technical savvy. She traces the private jet’s flight history to multiple continents, proving the painting is being marketed globally. Her remark that the thieves made a mistake by putting Julian on that airplane shows she understands how intelligence leaks can be weaponised.
The Unnamed Italian Partner
He never gives his name, demands Julian’s phone, and refuses to let the painting leave his custody. His careful, hostile manner confirms he is a player with something to hide, likely a principal behind the Vatican theft.
Peter van de Velde
Van de Velde plays the front‑man role, delivering a “muted apology” and yielding control to the partner. His own involvement appears limited, as Gabriel observes.
Themes, Symbols, and Motifs
Overconfidence as a Fatal Flaw
Sarah and Gabriel agree the thieves’ conviction that they have gotten away with the greatest art heist in history leads to the “critical mistakes” of inviting Julian to Amsterdam and, crucially, putting him on the plane—a trackable asset.
Technology and Information Warfare
The jet’s alphanumeric identification code becomes the key to tracking the criminals. The chapter contrasts old‑world art expertise (Julian’s eye) with modern intelligence tools (flight‑tracking databases, phone monitoring), showing how they combine to shift the balance of power.
Art as a Wounded Victim
Julian’s visceral anger at the recent overpainting humanises the Leonardo. The portrait is described as having been “horribly mistreated,” turning the recovery mission into an almost chivalric quest. The fresh rabbit‑skin glue smell is a sensory symbol of the damage done.
The Ritual of “Wiltons”
The restaurant functions as an insider’s sanctuary where gossip, professional rivalries, and confidential briefings blur. The parade of dealers, auction‑house experts, and journalists that Julian surveys at the bar embodies the incestuous, reputation‑driven world where art and influence intersect.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 26 (“Wiltons”) is the hinge between discovery and action. It delivers the definitive expert confirmation that the portrait is a lost Leonardo, reveals the painting’s journey across the globe, and pins the target to a specific bank in Lugano. The chapter also crystallises the team’s strategy: instead of rushing in, they will exploit the enemy’s complacency. By ending with Gabriel’s promise that “we’ll make our move,” the narrative shifts from reconnaissance to the planning stage, raising tension for the chapters ahead.
Study Questions and Answers
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How does Julian Isherwood reach the conclusion that the painting is a Leonardo, and what about its condition enrages him?
Julian examines the portrait’s heavy‑lidded left eye through a magnifying glass and recognises brushwork consistent with Leonardo’s hand. He notes the absence of any historical evidence that Leonardo ever painted from the silverpoint sketch of the sitter, but concedes the same is true of the Salvator Mundi. His anger stems from the recently applied overpainting covering much of the surface, which he later describes as “dreadful,” and from the smell of fresh rabbit‑skin glue signalling an amateur restoration. -
What critical mistake did the thieves make that enabled Sarah to track them, and what did the flight records reveal?
They placed Julian on their private jet. International convention requires civilian aircraft to bear a unique alphanumeric identification code, which Sarah used to query flight‑tracking data. The plane, registered to the shell company Eiger Air Transport, flew to Lugano after dropping Julian. Further records showed recent stops in Dubai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, proving the painting was being shown to ultra‑wealthy buyers. -
Why does Gabriel refuse to confront Peter van de Velde directly, and what does the team plan to do instead?
Van de Velde is merely a front man who does not possess the painting. Confronting him would alert the thieves and forfeit their chief advantage—the criminals’ belief that they have succeeded. Gabriel’s plan is to wait for the adversaries to commit another error. Only then, he says, will they “make our move.”