Title: 'Homecoming: First Sight'
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: G
Length: 747 words
Summary: A case does not go the way Holmes expects.

Holmes has frequently admonished me that my horizons needed to broadened, and this was why, one sunny afternoon, I found myself accompanying him to an art exhibition which he had declared would do just that.

We began touring the exhibition together, but it was not long before he had left me to continue my viewing by himself, since he had darted off to inspect I knew not what.  My idea of art is a pleasant landscape which gives a representation of the view the artist was enjoying.  I do not necessarily expect it to be entirely accurate, but I would like to be in a position where I would recognise the view if I were to see it in real life.

I was inspecting a work by M. Derain, entitled Charing Cross Bridge, which, although a familiar scene to me, had apparently rendered the Houses of Parliament in hues of green while the Thames had turned yellow, when Holmes reappeared and took my arm.

“Come, Watson,” he said, “I fear I must take you away from the delights of fauvism, for we have other beasts to find.”

I cannot say I was disappointed at this change of plan, and willingly followed Holmes into the street.  From there Holmes hailed a cab which took us to the Savoy Hotel.  We were met by an American gentleman who escorted us to a suite.

“Mr Hoffmannstein will be with you shortly,” the man said, before leaving us alone.

We took our seats and I looked round the room, noticing a painting on the wall.

“Now that’s better,” I remarked.  “I rather like it.”

“I suspected it might be more to your taste,” Holmes replied.  “But look closer.”

I did as he instructed but was none the wiser.  It was of a family group looking out to sea.  “What am I looking at?”  I asked.

“The painting is called Homecoming: First Sight.  Look at the horizon and tell me what you see.”

“It’s steam, presumably from a steamship.”

“Now look again at the people.”

“Ah!”  Their clothing was from a time when all vessels were sailing ships.  “Is this some sort of modern statement?”

“No.  Our artist has painted the background exactly as he saw it, then copied the family from another painting, in an attempt to pass this off as being a lost painting of that period.  A painting which he is planning to sell for a considerable sum of money.”

“But what is your role in all this?  And why did you drag me to that particular exhibition?”

Before Holmes had time to reply, Mr Hoffmannstein came in.

“I see you are admiring the painting,” he said to me.  Then turning to Holmes, he added, “Well, do you think the price being asked is a fair one?”

“I fear that the named price is well above its true value,” Holmes replied.

“A little perhaps, I am prepared to negotiate slightly.”

“But it is not at all what it seems.”

“No?”  Hoffmannstein looked critically at the painting.  Then called us over to look at it again.  He produced a photograph of a family group, which looked very similar to the one in the painting.  “I think the artist has captured my family very well, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Indeed,” I said.  “But I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“I wanted a painting to take home and this view is one I particularly liked.  The artist agreed to include my family in the painting, and I asked him to base the costumes on some of the Dutch school as a tribute to my wife’s forebears.”

“But why not have a sail coming over the horizon?” Holmes said.

“When I shall be returning home by steamship?  That wouldn’t make sense at all!”

At that moment Holmes’ face would not have been out of place at the fauvist exhibition. 

We left shortly afterwards, and once we were inside a cab taking us back to Baker Street, I asked Holmes what the connection was between the exhibition and his client.

“I have been investigating a case of art forgeries, and an informant suggested I look at Hoffmannstein’s purchase in that connection.  It was this informant I had gone to meet at the exhibition.  He failed to turn up, and I suspect I had been deliberately distracted to enable the true forgers to move their centre of operations while I was otherwise engaged.”

“In which case, Holmes, it would appear you will have to widen your horizon.”