F YOU GOOGLE the ‘50 most recognisable artists names’, the chances are Walter Sickert’s won’t be on there. What’s more, if you type his name into your web browser, you’ll instantly, and alarmingly, see him being linked to the infamous Jack the Ripper. This is the theory of the crime novelist Patricia Cornwell – she even had one of his canvases cut up in the vain hope of finding a clue to link Sickert to the murder and mutilation of five prostitutes – but the case against him comes undone when we realise that evidence suggests he may
