Discovering Norman Rockwell’s painting ‘Breaking Home Ties’ behind a wall in an Arlington, Vermont home

deep in these Vermont woods, a mysterious lost and found treasure. Once a famed artist’s colony, Arlington was home to norman Rockwell from 1939 to 1953 there were several other saturday evening post illustrators and famous illustrators. The man of this cover painted by Rockwell is the late Don tracked e a well known cartoonist and painter. He modeled for Rockwell and got to know him says tracked his son also named Don. He worshipped norman Rockwell and he just loved this painting. This painting is breaking home ties. This man is losing his son and his son is looking off to the future. It’s really a strong painting. In 1962 tracked his father bought it directly from Rockwell for $900. Rockwell later would borrow the painting for exhibits and it became an iconic work. My dad really clutched onto the paint. He just didn’t want anyone to touch the painting. Then he was faced with a divorce as part of the settlement tracked his parents gifted eight paintings including the Rockwell to their four Children. My mom happened to have five of the paintings here in her house and my dad had 31 of them of course was breaking home ties. So the next 35 years we just thought everything was hunky Dory not. So when the painting was on view at the Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, one artist insisted it was a meticulously painted fake. I was kind of sick about it frankly attract, he couldn’t stop thinking about the accusation. So in 2006, after their father passed away, he and his brother David Poked around their dad’s studio he called me and said I found something behind a wall. We removed the bottom shelf. We could just begin to pull the Wall Open like this. And there we are inside the secret wall. All eight of the families paintings including breaking home ties. Turns out Don’s father had kept the originals and forged all of them nearly perfectly. This is a photograph of the original Rockwell. Now the replica. Can you tell the difference? My dad was a great observer and I’m sure that when he went into norman studio he observed what kind of paints he used, what kind of brushes he used tracked his dad left no clues except for this piece of paper. That could be a map. After the initial shock came relief over the painting’s condition. Why wouldn’t varmints and mice and so forth? Get in there. Right, Bugs like that. Nothing. They were perfect. So were you mad at your dad at all? You know, it’s a puzzlement because of course people asked what if the what if we sold the studio, what if it burned down? And when did he do it? He just didn’t want to relinquish it to the world. He wanted to keep it. The brothers immediately informed the Rockwell museum. Word got out and in came the offers to buy even from billionaire ross perot. Sotheby’s made the sale in november of 2006 when we got to nine million. I felt pretty good and then when you get to 15, when I got the 15 to I felt really good. It was a record sale for Iraq. Well no doubt boosted by the story behind it. I appreciate my dad’s skill and just wish I could talk to him and get more details. Arlington’s community ties are happily bound to this high school of 220 students were strong in other sports. But you can tell that soccer is our thing. In 2018, both the girls and boys teams won the state championship in their division. Emma Hoover and Kobe Wilkins were there. It was really unreal. Like to have all of our work from the season payoff. Yeah, I was like no other feeling in the world. It was our first championship for boys and soccer in 23 years. Colby plays alongside his younger brother Brandon, their head coach, State Trooper Todd Wilkins, they’re dead. From my perspective, it’s phenomenal when we’re here on the field, I’m coach, you know, when we’re at home, I’m dead And we try not to blur those lines. Arlington’s use soccer program was created by beloved coach, John Warner who passed away in 2018 without him. Soccer wouldn’t be the same. Arlington wouldn’t be the same girls varsity coach and would john really did a good job of teaching us. It wasn’t all about soccer, it was about the idea of trying to give back to your community and make it a place that everybody loved and it was as strong as it could be. It really brings everybody together and it’s kind of like a soul source of energy and spirit for the town, I think. Yeah. Mm That’s great. And back to the Rockwell mystery. It’s odd that no other museum or experts on painting ever noticed that they were fake. Well, there was never any question because the image actually went from Rockwell right to don tractors, father. And another fun fact about it, Ross Perot who actually wanted the original painting, didn’t get it. He missed out. So tracked his family recreated a full sized museum quality image for him that apparently he hung in his office. It is an incredible story up next. Drugs almost destroyed him. Then music saved his life.

Discovering Norman Rockwell’s painting ‘Breaking Home Ties’ behind a wall in an Arlington, Vermont home

Once a famed artist colony, Norman Rockwell called Arlington, Vermont, home 1939-1953

Updated: 2:13 PM EDT Oct 1, 2021

A local resident tells us the jaw-dropping mystery surrounding his family’s Norman Rockwell painting. We also visit the local high school, where the girls and boys soccer teams both won state championships last year.

NEEDHAM, Mass. —

A local resident tells us the jaw-dropping mystery surrounding his family’s Norman Rockwell painting. We also visit the local high school, where the girls and boys soccer teams both won state championships last year.