Mistress of the Bluebeard

An ancient painting with the ominous title "The Mistress of Blue Beard" was stolen from the city museum. The thieves, for some reason, disregarded the unwritten rule and took the canvas along with the heavy stretcher. Captain of the militia, Arkhip Shchukin, suspecting the mysterious past of the stolen exhibit, tries to find out its origin. Soon he learns that shortly before the disappearance, the Italian subject, Natale di Monteverio, was interested in the portrait, spending hours in front of the image of the fair-haired beauty. As the foreigner explained, the history of the painting is closely connected with the fate of the wealthy Russian landowner Gordeeva, who was arrested in 1819 while attempting to flee from Russia with that very portrait...