A Minerva Teichert painting known as "The Law on the Plates of Brass" is at the heart of a legal dispute pitting a downtown art gallery against the painting's one-time owner, and the LDS Church. Famous Painting Thomas Alder, owner of Williams Fine Art Gallery, contends two unnamed representatives from the Church History Museum showed up with paperwork to "borrow" the painting from his business and never returned it. Flower Painting Instead, his lawsuit alleges the painting's owner breached their consignment contract and sold the painting to a member of the museum's acquisition committee without Alder's knowledge. Boats Painting
In early 2011, Rita Wright, identified in the lawsuit as a museum curator, talked with Alder about the museum purchasing the painting. Landscape Painting Several museum officials visited the gallery to view the work by Teichert, whose best-known works were a series of 40 paintings depicting scenes in the Book of Mormon and a mural in the Manti Temple. Animal Painting Alder alleges he later learned from a representative of Powell's that the LDS Church was not borrowing the painting, but had purchased it through Brad Westwood, a new member of the museum's acquisition committee.