Paintings by Jack the Ripper suspect go on exhibit

ArtsCanada

FREDERICTON - Paintings by a man suspected to be the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper will be featured at a prestigious gallery.

The Beaverbrook Art Gallery will exhibit the works by British impressionist Walter Sickert, who was recently fingered by an American author as the prime suspect.

"If Jack the Ripper doesn't bring people into the gallery, nothing will," Laurie Glenn, head of gallery programming told The Canadian Press Monday. "We might as well close the doors."

Author Patricia Cornwell lays out the case against Sickert in her new book, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed .

Cornwall believes DNA samples lifted from a stamp on a letter thought to be mailed by the Ripper match samples from Sickert - proving once and for all the identity of the killer.

The author says the rooms and the beds in many of the Sickert pictures closely resemble the murder scenes in the killings. Also, some of his paintings depict murdered prostitutes.

In 1888, five prostitutes were murdered in the Whitechapel district of London. The women were slashed and their organs were removed by the Ripper.

Despite a number of suspects, the case was never solved.

Glenn said she read the book but does not agree with the author's conclusions.

She also told The Canadian Press she was disturbed to learn that Cornwell bought and destroyed up to 30 Sickert paintings, tearing them apart to search for evidence.

The exhibition runs until March 17.

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