In Chap­ter 35 of The Art Thief, the nar­ra­tive delves into the intri­cate and emo­tion­al­ly charged tes­ti­mo­ny giv­en by Sten­gel, the moth­er of the accused, Bre­itwieser, dur­ing his tri­al in France. From the out­set, Stengel’s state­ments are con­tra­dic­to­ry, as she ini­tial­ly denies hav­ing stored any stolen art­work in her attic, which con­flicts with ear­li­er admis­sions. Under pres­sure from the pros­e­cu­tor, she retracts some of her pri­or con­fes­sions, claim­ing they were made under duress. She asserts that she nev­er harmed any of the art­works and denies her direct involve­ment in their destruc­tion, yet her emotions—marked by fear, resent­ment, and even a chill­ing dec­la­ra­tion of hatred for her son—seep through her tes­ti­mo­ny, fur­ther com­pli­cat­ing her role in the art thefts. These stark emo­tions hint at the psy­cho­log­i­cal strug­gles she endured while being caught in the web of her son’s crim­i­nal activ­i­ties.

The pros­e­cu­tor high­lights the sever­i­ty of Sten­gel’s actions, empha­siz­ing that her involve­ment in the destruc­tion of the stolen art­works goes beyond per­son­al betray­al to extend to a betray­al of cul­tur­al her­itage. A psy­cho­log­i­cal eval­u­a­tion by ther­a­pist César Redon­do presents a more nuanced under­stand­ing of Stengel’s moti­va­tions, indi­cat­ing that her actions were not just those of a pas­sive observ­er but a woman dri­ven by deep-seat­ed emo­tion­al tur­moil. Stengel’s desire to remove what she saw as a threat to her rela­tion­ship with her son, in the form of the art­work he hoard­ed, came from a place of obses­sion and fear. Redondo’s report under­scores that Stengel’s obses­sion with the art was a reflec­tion of her com­plex and tox­ic bond with her son, which, at times, seemed to bor­der on pos­ses­sive­ness. The court’s con­tin­ued scruti­ny of Stengel’s con­tra­dic­to­ry tes­ti­mo­ny reveals the deep psy­cho­log­i­cal strug­gles that may have influ­enced her role in Breitwieser’s crim­i­nal activ­i­ties.

As the tri­al pro­gress­es, Bre­itwieser becomes increas­ing­ly involved in defend­ing his moth­er, even though his emo­tions are clear­ly torn. Despite his desire to shield her from the full weight of the law, his shame and pain are pal­pa­ble, espe­cial­ly as Sten­gel’s harsh words cast a shad­ow over their rela­tion­ship. His attor­ney works to paint Sten­gel as a vic­tim of her cir­cum­stances, but the truth of her guilt for han­dling stolen goods remains unde­ni­able. Sten­gel is ulti­mate­ly sen­tenced to a brief four months in prison and placed on pro­ba­tion, a sen­tence that reflects the com­plex­i­ty of her involve­ment in the case. Anne-Cather­ine, anoth­er key fig­ure in the art thefts, takes the stand and also denies involve­ment, por­tray­ing her rela­tion­ship with Bre­itwieser as one marked by fear and coer­cion. Although the pros­e­cu­tor chal­lenges her cred­i­bil­i­ty, par­tic­u­lar­ly in rela­tion to her role in the thefts, Anne-Cather­ine faces min­i­mal legal con­se­quences, thanks to her lawyer’s inter­ven­tion, serv­ing just one night in jail.

Through­out the tri­al, Breitwieser’s efforts to pro­tect both women seem to clash with the real­i­ty of his own mount­ing guilt and respon­si­bil­i­ty. Despite his desire to shield them from pub­lic scruti­ny, he can­not escape the con­se­quences of his own actions. After the tri­al, Bre­itwieser is sen­tenced to a lengthy prison term, and in the iso­la­tion of his incar­cer­a­tion, he turns to edu­ca­tion and self-reflec­tion as a means of redemp­tion. How­ev­er, upon his release, Bre­itwieser strug­gles to find any real sense of pur­pose or ful­fill­ment. Sten­gel con­tin­ues to sup­port him, but their reunion is over­shad­owed by unan­swered ques­tions about the fate of the miss­ing artwork—a top­ic that Sten­gel refus­es to dis­cuss. Bre­itwieser finds him­self unable to escape the emo­tion­al scars of his past, par­tic­u­lar­ly the frac­tured rela­tion­ships with Anne-Cather­ine and oth­ers, and his attempts to recon­nect with them only seem to deep­en his sense of iso­la­tion and despair. A failed attempt to rekin­dle a con­nec­tion with Anne-Cather­ine leads to yet anoth­er brief impris­on­ment, fur­ther solid­i­fy­ing the trag­ic nature of his jour­ney. This chap­ter explores the com­plex­i­ty of guilt, loss, and the intri­cate emo­tion­al land­scapes that arise from a life steeped in crime and regret.