art theft

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Stolen van Gogh Was Returned in Ikea Bag

Dutch art detective said it had become a 'hot potato' in criminal underworld

(Newser) - A Dutch art detective known as the "Indiana Jones of the art world" has recovered a Vincent van Gogh painting stolen from a museum in Amsterdam during a COVID lockdown in March 2020. In a video posted on Instagram Tuesday, Arthur Brand displayed the 1884 painting Parsonage Garden at ...

Guy Who Stole Terracotta Warrior's Thumb Pleads Guilty

Michael Rohana reaches plea deal in crime that outraged China

(Newser) - A Delaware man's legal saga is approaching its end, more than five years after an extremely ill-advised move at an ugly Christmas sweater party that led to an FBI investigation and international tensions. Days before Christmas 2017, Michael Rohana was at an after-hours party in the Franklin Institute in...

17th-Century Paintings Sent for Cleaning Now 'Untraceable'

Swiss museum suspects 2 'Old Master' artworks were stolen

(Newser) - Switzerland's biggest art museum says two "Old Master" paintings from the 17th century are missing and theft is a definite possibility. The Kunsthaus Zurich says the two paintings— Robert van den Hoecke’s "Soldiers in the Camp" and Dirck de Bray's "Daffodils and Other Flowers...

NYPD: This Couple Tried to Make Off With a Basquiat

But police say they left gallery without the painting

(Newser) - It was an audacious and nearly successful move: Police on Wednesday said a man and woman entered a Manhattan gallery on May 14, took a $45,000 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat from the wall, and began to walk out. They were stopped before making it out of Taglialatella Galleries, however....

Suspected Picasso Thief Isn't Who Police Expected

He's reportedly not a member of a sophisticated gang but just someone who loves art

(Newser) - On Tuesday Greece heralded the discovery of a precious Picasso painting that had been stolen from the National Gallery in Athens in 2012. The Guardian reports that the man suspected of taking "Head of a Woman," along with a work by Piet Mondrian, isn't who police expected....

Stolen Picasso Painting With Huge Sentimental Value Found

Artist intended for the Greek people to have it in recognition of their Nazi resistance

(Newser) - A Picasso painting that was stolen in January 2012 and has particular meaning to the Greek people has been recovered. The BBC reports the artist himself gave "Head of a Woman" to Greece in 1949 in honor of the country's resistance to the Nazis. Culture Minister Lina Mendoni...

Months Later, Arrest in Brazen Pandemic Art Heists

Man accused of stealing two paintings from two different museums in the Netherlands

(Newser) - More than a year after a Van Gogh was stolen from a shuttered Dutch museum early in the COVID-19 pandemic, an arrest has been made in that case—as well as another art heist that also took place in the Netherlands, at a different museum, months later. A 58-year-old Dutch...

Stolen Copy of World's Most Expensive Painting Is Found
Stolen Copy of World's Most
Expensive Painting Is Found
in case you missed it
Jan 23, 2021 7:00 AM CST

Stolen Copy of World's Most Expensive Painting Is Found

Italian museum didn't realize 'Salvator Mundi' copy was missing

(Newser) - A 500-year-old copy of the world's most expensive painting has been returned to an Italian museum, whose staff didn't even realize it was stolen. During a search of an apartment in Naples, police came upon the copy of Salvator Mundi , a Leonardo da Vinci original depicting Jesus Christ...

This Masterpiece Just Got Stolen, Again

'Two Laughing Boys' by Frans Hals taken from Dutch museum

(Newser) - The pandemic is bad news for art patrons because museums are mostly closed. Art thieves, on the other hand, seem to be doing OK. For the second time since the pandemic began, a painting has been stolen from a shuttered museum in the Netherlands, reports Reuters . In March, it was...

'Proof of Life' Photos of Stolen Van Gogh Emerge

Art detective says thief could be looking for a buyer

(Newser) - The Vincent van Gogh painting stolen from a Dutch museum in March has turned up—in a pair of photographs . The "proof of life" photos show the front and back of the small painting, Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, next to a copy of the New York Times'...

18 Months After Theft, Banksy Piece Found in Attic

Authorities recover mural dedicated to Bataclan victims

(Newser) - Italian authorities on Thursday unveiled a stolen artwork by the British artist Banksy that was painted as a tribute to the victims of the 2015 terror attacks at the Bataclan music hall in Paris. The L'Aquila prosecutors' office said the work was recovered Wednesday during a search of a...

Watch an Art Thief in Action
Watch an Art Thief in Action
video
Apr 23, 2020 6:35 PM CDT

Watch an Art Thief in Action

It's less sophisticated that you might imagine

(Newser) - All it took was a few sturdy swings with a sledgehammer and a prized painting by Vincent van Gogh was gone, per the AP . A Dutch crime-busting television show has aired security camera footage showing how an art thief smashed his way through reinforced glass doors at a museum in...

Museum Shuttered by Virus 'Shocked' by Theft

Vincent van Gogh painting taken from Singer museum in Laren

(Newser) - A Dutch museum that was closed because of the coronavirus pandemic had a very unwelcome visitor or visitors in the wee hours of Monday morning: a thief or thieves who made off with a Vincent van Gogh painting. The Independent reports the 1884 work, Spring Garden, was taken around 3:...

'A Serious Theft When We Have Other Things to Worry About'

Work by Anthony Van Dyck, 2 others, were taken

(Newser) - There is a thief or thieves out there who definitely aren't self-quarantining amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Three "very high value" paintings were stolen just before midnight Saturday from an art gallery at Oxford University's Christ Church college. Chief among them was A Soldier On Horseback by...

Gardener Finds Stolen $66M Painting Stashed in Wall

Klimt disappeared almost 23 years ago

(Newser) - A Gustav Klimt painting stolen almost 23 years ago might have been hidden all this time inside an Italian gallery's walls. A gardener at the Ricci Oddi modern art gallery in the northern city of Piacenza told Italian state TV on Tuesday he was clearing ivy from the gallery'...

Thieves Raid Europe's Largest Collection of Treasures

Authorities are still trying to assess what was taken from the Green Vault in Dresden, Germany

(Newser) - Early Monday, firefighters in Dresden, Germany, rushed to the scene of a fire at a power distributor. Not long after, another call came in: The Gruenes Gewoelbe museum, or Green Vault, had been robbed. Now authorities say they're trying to figure out if the two incidents are connected, as...

20 Knew It Was a Suspected Michelangelo. Now It's Gone

16th-century painting was about to be formally studied to see whether it was by the master

(Newser) - An expert was to survey a painting some believe to be a lost work of Michelangelo at a church outside of Brussels on Thursday, though you can now consider the visit canceled. Pastor Jan Van Raemdonck—who had told only 20 people about the possible discovery—reported the painting missing...

Unsolved $500 Million Art Heist Gets a Podcast

The theft of 13 paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum still perplexes authorities

(Newser) - A famously unsolved art heist will be the subject of a podcast that is sure to be the next big hit among true crime fans. In a statement released Thursday, WBUR and the Boston Globe announced they've teamed up for a series on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft...

Cops: Unlikely Bandit Steals Yoko Ono Rock From Museum

Toronto police looking for $17.5K stone and the middle-aged woman who took it

(Newser) - As art thefts go, it was pretty simple: “She just picked it up and walked away with it," says a Toronto police official. He's referring to a rock with the words "Love yourself" written on it by none other than Yoko Ono, reports the Toronto Star ...

Ugly Sweater Party at Art Museum Takes Ugly Turn

Terracotta Army statue, on loan from China, was found to be minus a digit

(Newser) - What began as an Ugly Sweater Party has turned into an international incident. The BBC reports Michael Rohana was attending such a party four days before Christmas at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia when he allegedly entered a room that was closed to guests but, per the Guardian , had an...

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