| “ | I found a little old man in Argentina. Genius, I mean, really. Brushwork immaculate, it could fool anyone. Well, nearly anyone. But I didn't know how to go about convincing the world the picture was genuine. It was just an idea. A spark which he blew into a flame. (Sherlock Holmes: Who?) I don't know. It's true! It took a long time, but eventually I was put in touch with people. His people, but there was never any real contact. Just...messages. Whispers. (Sherlock Holmes: And did those whispers have a name?) Moriarty. | „ |
| ~ Miss Wenceslas confesses, giving Holmes Moriarty's name. |
Miss Wenceslas is a supporting antagonist of the Sherlock episode "The Great Game". She is the owner of the Hickman Gallery who is a client of Jim Moriarty and wants to forge an Old Master to make millions of pounds.
She was portrayed by the late Haydn Gwynne who also portrayed Matron in The Midnight Gang, Jennifer Carter in Midsomer Murders and Camilla Parker-Bowles in The Windsors.
Biography[]
Miss Wenceslas was the owner of the Hickman Art Gallery in London, though she originally came from the Czech Republic. She met an old man in Argentina who could fake any painting, and decided to have him forge a missing Old Master so she could get a share of the thirty million pounds it was worth.
However, unable to convince the world that the picture was genuine she got in touch with people working for Jim Moriarty who agreed to help her. With his help she faked the picture and announced that the gallery would open it as an exhibit.
However, there was one problem. A security guard and amateur astronomer named Alex Woodbridge noticed an anomaly in the painting and contacted Professor Cairns at the nearby university to verify his theory. In response, an assassin named The Golem was hired to kill the two.
Sherlock Holmes investigated the murder of Woodbridge as part of his game of wits against Moriarty. He immediately deduced that the painting was a fake and confronted Miss Wenceslas while disguised as a security guard. Later, after the murder of Professor Cairns by The Golem, Sherlock contacted the unknown caller (Moriarty) and told him that they were killed because they identified the Van Buren supernova in the painting, which proved it was a fake because this didn't occur until after the supposed artist's death.
Greg Lestrade interviewed Wenceslas and told her that she would be charged with fraud, conspiracy and accessory to murder. She was forced to confess and told Sherlock about the Argentinian, as well as giving him Moriarty's name.
Trivia[]
- It's unknown whether or not Miss Wenceslas was aware that The Golem had been sent to kill Woodbridge and Cairns, as she claimed not to know anything about it.
