Jon Landau art heist

Photo Credit: Pine Watt

Longtime Bruce Springsteen manager Jon Landau was swindled with a roughly $125K purchase of a painting with a falsified ownership story.

Just because someone is a respected and high-profile figure in one facet of the creative industry doesn’t mean they can’t fall victim to fraud in the broader arts sector. Jon Landau, longtime Bruce Springsteen manager and noted art collector, acquired a painting for $125,000 in September 2024 that was worth far more. But it wasn’t just a great discount; the painting ended up being the subject of fraud. Now, Landau is caught up in a lawsuit over the matter.

London gallery owner Patrick Matthiesen consigned an 1844 oil painting by Gustave Courbet titled Mother and Child on a Hammock, which was marketed for around $650,000, to a supposed middleman, Thomas “A.J.” Doyle. Doyle—who, importantly, only disclosed his given name at the time as A.J.—introduced himself as a connected art player with access to numerous major works.

The 82-year-old Matthiesen sent the Courbet painting to Doyle under the pretense that he would secure a sale for the gallery at around $550,000. But Doyle instead moved the painting through another dealer, Shalva Sarukhanishvili, to New York’s Jill Newhouse Gallery for about $115,000. From there, it was sold to Landau, who also ranks as one of the country’s top art collectors, for $125,000 on the basis of a falsified ownership story that implied Doyle to be the legitimate seller.

Matthiesen filed a lawsuit late last year, which included Doyle, the Newhouse gallery, and Landau as defendants. The filing alleged fraud, breach of contract, and four other counts. Doyle is a convicted con man under his given name, Thomas, but his comparatively minor charges that Matthiesen was made aware of prior to entrusting the painting to his care were attributed to a “different” Doyle.

Landau’s attorney, as well as attorneys for the Jill Newhouse gallery, have asserted the claims against them are meritless. “With respect to our client Jon Landau, we view the lawsuit as wholly without merit, and we will address it accordingly in court.”

A previous lawsuit was filed against Doyle back in 2010 over Portrait of a Girl by Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot, which led to the discovery of a history of similar art fraud. Judge McMahon called Doyle a “career criminal by any definition of the term” when handing down his six-year sentence at the time.