Art: Halifax Gentleman

In the Nova Scotia Museum of Fine Arts in Halifax, an impressive array of notables assembled one day last week for a special ceremony: the presentation of two 17th century landscapes attributed to the Italian artist Salvator Rosa. What brought out the notables was not so much the Rosas as their roundabout arrival.

The story of the Rosas goes back to a day in the War of 1812, when the good ship Marquis de Somerueles, flying the American flag, was bowling westward over the Atlantic and ran into trouble in the form of a British man-o'-war. The Somerueles and her cargo, including...