Man Admits Fraud in Sale of Courbet Painting to Bruce Springsteen’s Manager
By Vittoria Benzine
Last week, Thomas Doyle, a Connecticut man, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud surrounding the sale of a work by French painter Gustave Courbet to Bruce Springsteen‘s business manager.
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Last year, the 68-year-old Doyle facilitated the sale of Mother and Child on a Hammock (1844) via New York-based Jill Newhouse Gallery, with permission from its owner, London-based art dealer Patrick Matthiesen. The gallery sold the painting to art collector and Springsteen manager Jon Landau. Matthiesen never saw any money from the deal.
Matthiesen reportedly acquired Mother and Child on a Hammock at auction in 2015. The work’s listing on Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd, which flags it as disputed, noted that Courbet painted this scene in his mid-20s, while still in his Romantic era. Here, Courbet repurposes an erotic verse by French poet Victor Hugo into the only depiction of maternal love throughout his oeuvre. “At that time Courbet, who was always discreet about his private life, fathered a little boy he was never to recognize,” the listing reads. The baby’s mother was Virginie Binet, Courbet’s model and his only serious romantic partner. The Salon rejected the work in 1845.
In 2023, Matthiesen consigned Mother and Child to New York’s Nicholas Hall Gallery, which offered it at TEFAF Maastricht for $650,000. There were no takers. Rather than letting Hall hold onto it, Matthiesen fell in league with the so-called “A.J. Doyle,” who had reached out via email. Doyle claimed a multigenerational art market pedigree and connections, managing to pass Matthiesen’s screening. If Doyle had introduced himself with his legal name, his prior art fraud convictions would have appeared, including the two-year prison sentence for stealing an Edgar Degas in 2007 or the collector he defrauded shortly after his release.
Bruce Springsteen and Jon Landau during the New York Film Festival, 2025. Photo: Taylor Hill / FilmMagic.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Matthiesen asked Hall to release Mother and Child to Doyle in June 2024. Months later, in August, Doyle reported that he had sold the work to a collector for $550,000. In reality, New York-based art dealer Shalva Sarukhanishvili had led the consignment of the Courbet to Jill Newhouse Gallery, which sold it to Landau for $125,000. Both parties received false provenances for the work. The U.S. Attorney said Doyle pocketed most of the proceeds, putting them towards “personal expenses and his own debts.”
By March 2025, Doyle had spent the money. He told Matthiesen the buyer was to blamed, and advised Matthiesen to take it up with Sarukhanishvili, who stopped responding. Officials arrested Doyle last November. The U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment on whether it has been in touch with Sarukhanishvili.
Per his plea, Doyle has agreed to forfeit his earnings and pay $125,000 in restitution to Matthiesen. The maximum sentence is 20 years in prison; he will be sentenced November 9.
Matthiesen, meanwhile, has launched a civil lawsuit against Doyle, Sarukhanishvili, Shalva Sarukhanishvili Fine Art, Inc., Jill Newhouse LLC,, and Landau. Jill Newhouse Gallery has called the claims against it “meritless.” Landau’s lawyer has stated that the work legally belongs to Landau. The suit is in the discovery phase, where it will remain until November, according to Justia.
This article was originally published by Artnet News.