The Mistress of Bluebeard

An ancient painting with the sinister title "The Mistress of Bluebeard" has been stolen from the city museum. For some reason, the thieves disregarded the unwritten rule and took the canvas along with the hefty stretcher. Police Captain Arkhip Shchukin, suspecting the mysterious past of the stolen artifact, tries to uncover its origin. Soon he learns that shortly before the disappearance, an Italian national, Natale di Monteverio, had been interested in the portrait, spending hours in front of the image of a fair-haired beauty. As the foreigner explained, the history of the painting is closely connected to the fate of a wealthy Russian landowner, Gordeeva, who was arrested in 1819 while attempting to flee Russia with that very portrait…