This artwork is better guarded whilst on the move than a cash-in-transit van. When we accompanied the Gildewart to Udine, I sat on the back seat of the lorry, with the two drivers in front of me. The Carabinieri had been informed in advance and were waiting for us; we then drove into the city of Udine with a police escort and blue lights flashing. I am Natalie Prader, I’m a conservator and I accompany works of art on courier journeys. That means we accompany the artwork so that it’s effectively under our supervision from start to finish. I’m less concerned about the possibility of being held up – which is, of course, entirely possible – but we pay very close attention to how a museum technician handles the works: is he carrying the work by its lower edges? These are the sort of things we look out for, and naturally we do intervene from time to time, saying ‘Hey, please handle it this way or turn it slowly.’

A lorry is loaded according to value. There’s always a financial threshold that mustn’t be exceeded for insurance purposes. I’ve also heard that two valuable paintings were transported separately – one by ship and the other by plane – so that, if an accident were to happen, not both would be lost.