World's Greatest Art Thefts

Forbes ^ | Oct. 22, 2005 | Anthony Haden-Guest

[FairOpinion]

The 1911 theft of the "Mona Lisa," when the self-styled Marques Eduardo de Valfierno paid three men to steal it from the Louvre in Paris, is usually seen as the first great art heist of the 20th century. Since that time, countless thousands of works of major and minor art have been stolen, whether by professional thieves or as the result of war. The extraordinary thing is not how many pieces have been stolen but how many have been recovered.

Sadly, though, while the following list of the world's greatest postwar art thefts reveals that most of the work stolen from museums, galleries and private collections has been returned, many are still missing.

From Pre-Columbian artifacts to Modern masterpieces, click here to read about the 12 greatest art thefts of recent times.

[FairOpinion]

It's very interesting.

Maybe someone better at html and posting can post each picture with it's story, 12 in all.

[FairOpinion]

Art PING

[FairOpinion]

GGG PING?

[FairOpinion]

I. The United Kingdom: August 1961

Charles Wrightsman, the oil-rich American collector, bought Goya's "Portrait of the Duke of Wellington" for $392,000 in 1961 and planned to take it stateside. Such was the public outrage that the government raised the necessary matching sum. Less than three weeks after its triumphal hanging in the National Gallery, it was stolen. The thief demanded a ransom of the same amount and said he was going to devote it to charity. There was no response--unless you count the double take when James Bond (Sean Connery) spotted the painting on the wall of Dr. No.

[FairOpinion]

OK. I started. How about if everyone posts one, it's only 11 more...

[beyond the sea]

World's Greatest Art Thefts

What was Hillary able to shove in that moving van at the White House?

[FairOpinion]

II. Italy: February 1975

Italy, the home of art, has also been the home of art theft. When two paintings by Piero della Francesco, "The Flagellation of Christ" (above) and "The Madonna of Senigallia," and a Raphael, "The Mute," were cut from their frames and stolen from the Ducal Palace in Urbino, it was described as "the art crime of the century." This phrase would prove to have legs.

The crime was wholly driven by profit. It was committed by local criminals who planned to sell the works on the international market and would not be the last to discover that much-reproduced masterworks are hopelessly illiquid. The paintings were recovered undamaged in Locarno, Switzerland, in March 1976.

[FairOpinion]

III. France: November 1985

The theft of nine paintings, including Renoir's "Bathers" and Monet's "Impression, Soleil Levant" (above), which gave Impressionism its name, from the Marmottan Museum in Paris took place on Sunday. The police at first theorized that the radical group Action Direct had committed the crime. But several paintings stolen from a provincial French museum in early 1984 were recovered in Japan after a tip-off from a fence. The paintings--including Corots--were in the hands of Shuinichi Fujikuma, a known gangster. He had been behind the Marmottan heist too. Indeed, he had circulated a catalog of the nine soon to be stolen paintings.

Japan's short statute of limitations on stolen art was notorious, and rumors became rampant that the Japanese mob, aka the Yakuza, had penetrated the art world. The truth was on a smaller scale. Fujikuma had been arrested in France with 7.8 kilos of heroin in 1978. During a five-year sentence, he came to know Philippe Jamin and Youssef Khimoun, members of an art theft syndicate. They pulled the job for him. But the paintings were recovered in 1991--in Corsica. They had been too hot, even for Japan.

[FairOpinion]

IV. Mexico: December 1985

It was Christmas Eve, and the eight guards at Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology were not vigilant. Nor was it helpful that the alarm hadn't been working since the system broke down three years before. It was the new team of guards who arrived at 8 A.M. and discovered that sheets of glass had been removed from seven showcases. The 140 objects that were taken included jade and gold pieces from the Maya, Aztec, Zapotec and Miztec sculptures (pictured is "Pacal's Burial Mask"). The curator, Felipe Solis, estimated that one piece alone--a vase shaped like a monkey--could be worth over $20 million on the market--if a buyer could be found.

Most of the pieces were an inch or so in height. The entire haul would have fitted comfortably into a couple of suitcases. It is still considered the single largest theft of precious objects.

The lessons were few--but obvious. National museums, especially in the Third World, often have security woefully inadequate to their contents. And not everybody on a holiday is just out celebrating.

[Sam Cree]

Art ping!

Let Republican professor know if you want on or off the art ping list.

[Sam Cree]

I'll try again.

Art ping!

Let Republican Professor or me kwow if you want on or off the art ping list.

[Sam Cree]

Not only is Edvard Munch's "The Scream" one of the world's best-known paintings, it is also one of the most stolen. In 1994, one version of the iconic Expressionist painting was stolen from the Norwegian National Gallery--and later recovered. More recently, another version was stolen at gunpoint in August 2004, this time from the Munch museum in Oslo. (There are four versions in all.)

Painted in 1893, "Scream," which is said to be worth around $74.5 million, was uninsured because the museum felt the painting was priceless. The thieves, who also stole another well-known Munch painting, "Madonna," remain at large, and no ransom demands have been made for the work's return. --Charles Dubow

There were rumors that the thieves incinerated this one. Don't know how that may have been resolved.

[Lady Jag]

That the Munches were burned has been denied, but there is still no proof one way or the other.

[Sam Cree]

If a famous painting were ever going to be burned, it seems like it would be that one, somehow.

[MinuteGal]

Oooooo, arghhhhhh....... artistic ecstasy for me.

I'm bookmarking for a good read tonight along with close study of each painting, many of which are new to me.

I've never seen Van Gogh's "Wild Sunflowers" before. I love it, the colors and composition is pure, vibrant Van Gogh-ish.

What if one of us found one of these paintings at a garage sale? Who could we trust enough to quietly turn it over to? Hmmmmm.......

Thanks, thanks, thanks for this thread.

Leni

[jocon307]

This was very intesting. The slide show goes very fast, I had to hit "stop" on every picture. van Goghs seem particularly vulnerable. And the Dutch and the Scandos don't seem to have very good security at their museums.

It makes me want to visit the Frick Museum again. I must do that soon!

[Lady Jag]

It's not one I would choose for burning. Maybe Duchamp's shovel...

[Calpernia]

>>>>World's Greatest Art Thefts

Adding to list:

- White House silverware

[pbear8]

My artwork is priceless...

[onyx]

FOTFLOL!