Mission Impossible

A bit of Hubert trivia for the week: Hubert is the patron saint for hunters. Apparently, Saint Hubert (interestingly, born in France and died in Belgium) devoted most of his time to the chase which was his chief passion. An ironic twist of fate considering that I am hunting the hunter. Or at least I am hunting the artist using this eponym. One can only imagine what Hubert would have to say about this blog - blogger on a wild-goose chase, blogger chasing rainbows... okay, I'm guilty of circumlocution and now it's time to cut to the chase.

Last week I received a negative - no Hubert here - response from the D'Orsay. No sign of Hubert in Belgium either. My disappointment, however, was tempered by the good-humored and pleasant manner in which the news was delivered. The museums were kind enough to provide names and links to refer me to additional museums and libraries that might aid in furthering my search. To date, the institution that holds the most promise is the New York Public Library who, although also had no Hubert in their database, delightfully accepted my out-of-character bold and rather persistent proposal to examine my Hubert etchings. And so, the chase for Hubert advances in baby steps rather than giant leaps but the hunt is on, at any rate.

At an impasse until the NY Public Library's print expert can examine my prints, I decided to take a cue from a popular game show and phone a friend. I placed a call to my ex-federal agent friend, otherwise referred to by some in my family as Uncle Jack Bauer in a nod to the TV show "24", (although I feel my objective in this case more closely resembles the show "Mission Impossible") for a quick tutorial on how to track a missing artist. Certainly a person who trailed gang members, terrorists, missing persons, deadbeat dads, and criminals of varying degrees for a living, would have little problem locating a mysterious foreign etcher.  I compiled a dossier of pertinent information I've gathered over the years on a post-it, included a message for him that began "Your mission should you decide to accept it...", and anxiously await his investigative strategy. I just hope and pray that this blog will not self-destruct in 5 seconds....