Sometimes the crime scene itself betrays the attacker. Or rather, the evidence left on it, the presence of unwitting witnesses and the extraordinary behavior of thieves.
For example, in 2000, in the National Museum in Stockholm, there was a daring theft of three paintings by two famous artists: Renoir and Rembrandt. The kidnapping was planned by a criminal group of people who knew a lot about. After all, the total value of the paintings is at least $ 30 million. Their craving for adventure betrayed them. They boarded a motorboat and left the scene, leaving behind a crowd of onlookers. As a result, about six months later, the kidnapping case was solved.
An almost comical incident occurred in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The thieves of the two paintings worked very energetically and even managed to escape from the police. This time, the thieves were summed up by banal haste, because the “blunders” left their hats at the place of the theft. And, of course, they had hair. Thanks to the obtained DNA samples, the villains were immediately subjected to a righteous judgment.
There have been cases when canvases in art galleries were quietly carried away in broad daylight, despite the vigilant attention of many guards. The Scottish castle of Drumlanriga still remembers how robbers in 2003 pretended to be police officers and told their tour group that they were conducting exercises so that people would not panic when they began to take away the painting “Madonna with a Spindle” by Leonardo da Vinci. And one of the most grandiose robberies took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. There, by deception, 13 paintings were taken out with a total value of $ 500 million.
At times, paintings are searched for in places where thieves try to sell them. These can be websites and colorfully designed auction catalogs with photos of works of art placed in them. Masterpieces can easily be found in the private homes of the unsuspecting owners who bought them. It is natural that in order to search for the loss, it is often necessary to conduct a carefully planned operation with the participation of special services.
In addition, there are many interesting facts about the theft of paintings. For example, sometimes innocent people fall under suspicion, that is, talented artists who make copies of popular paintings. It is interesting that in the entire history of mankind, paintings by the artist Picasso were most often stolen. It also turned out that most of the kidnappers that they managed to expose hid their acquisitions in cemeteries and in storage rooms. It is noteworthy that the legendary Rembrandt painting, due to its rather small size (29.99 / 24.99 cm), was stolen as many as 4 times.
The motivation of thieves may defy any logic. For example, paintings were sometimes stolen not for the purpose of profit and resale, but because of the love of art. A connoisseur of beauty and antiquity, Stefan Breitwieser, in just 7 years of traveling around Europe, stole over 200 different antiques, including paintings. All this he collected exclusively for his house.
The goals of the kidnappers may even deserve respect. For example, the Italian Vincenzo Perugia, who worked in the art gallery of the Louvre, was a patriot of his country. And for this reason, he decided to take home the masterpieces of Italian painting. Naturally, public opinion fully supported him, and he escaped punishment.
From all of the above, we can conclude that the fate of the stolen paintings can be very difficult to trace. That is why it takes many years to find them.
Art theft, despite the complexity of this "craft", remains popular among thieves. This criminal business is considered one of the most profitable and takes the "honorable" fourth place in terms of money turnover among crimes. /website/
Painting theft is an old craft, but remains popular today. On Monday, March 14, the Madrid police spoke about one of the biggest thefts in decades. The criminals stole five paintings by the British expressionist Francis Bacon with a total value of 30 million euros. The works are stolen from the private home of a friend of the famous artist.
The theft occurred back in July last year, but the owner of the paintings and the police had not previously made this information public. The robbers took advantage of the absence of the owners, turned off the alarm and took out the paintings. At the same time, the attackers were able to go unnoticed. The owners of the paintings and law enforcement officers hope that the paintings are still in Spain.
This is not the only recent theft of paintings, although one of the largest. Even if the police manage to solve the crime, it is not always possible to find the paintings. Most often, robbers sell paintings to resellers, and those to collectors. Often, works of art end up abroad, after which their trace is lost.
Famous art crimes
In 2012, robbers took seven paintings by Picasso, Monet, Gauguin, Matisse and other famous artists from the Kunsthal Museum in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. The thieves took out all the pictures from the frames, while the alarm for some reason did not work. This theft was the largest in the Netherlands since 1991, when 20 paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam at once. It took the robbers two minutes to complete the crime. The police found the perpetrators, but the stolen paintings are still being sought.
An equally daring crime occurred in 1990, when two men disguised as policemen carried 13 exhibits out of the museum, including paintings by Rembrandt, Degas Vermeer and other artists. The criminals were in the museum for 81 minutes, but no one stopped them. 23 years after the crime was committed, the FBI announced it had been solved. However, the identities of the robbers were never made public, and the paintings have not yet been found. Empty spaces and frames are still left in the museum in the places where the exhibits once were.
However, there are robberies that ended less sadly, and even benefited the exhibit itself. This happened with the famous "Mona Lisa", which was not always so popular. Until 1911, only art historians knew about the painting, but the theft of the work brought him worldwide fame. The painting was stolen by an employee of the Louvre, who simply carried it out under his clothes. Journalists disseminated information about the crime so much that they made it a real world sensation. Only the sinking of the Titanic pushed the reports of the investigation into the theft of the Mona Lisa from the front pages of newspapers around the world.
The famous work was found in 1913, two years after the theft. This was facilitated by the robber himself, who published an advertisement for the sale of the Mona Lisa. It is assumed that he was going to make copies and pass them off as the original. After the painting returned to the Louvre, it became an object of worship as a masterpiece of world classics.
Experts say that it is impossible to estimate the number of art thefts. The only country that has a police art unit is Italy. However, even in this country, more than 20 thousand art crimes are registered annually. Experts say that the damage from art crimes is much more serious than we used to think. Pictures are exchanged for weapons, drugs and other dangerous things.
The most popular among criminals are the works of Picasso, Chagall, Renoir, Van Gogh and Dali. The works of Edvard Munch began to be in great demand among thieves. Museums and private collections are estimated to lose $7 billion annually from robbers. The number of criminal gangs that illegally obtain works of art is constantly growing. Experts note that demand creates supply. While masterpieces are being created, there will always be those who want to get them by any means. Therefore, the work of those who can steal these coveted works of art will always be in demand.
It happens that the love of money makes people commit crimes, and theft in this case is the easiest and most effective way to do this. In our review, the 10 most sensational and most expensive thefts. Some of the stolen artifacts were subsequently found, while others disappeared without a trace, but the hope remains that they will be found.
1. Faberge eggs
A series of jewelry by Carl Faberge, known as Faberge eggs, was created in 1885-1917. In total, 71 Easter surprises were created, of which 52 eggs were made by jewelers by order of the emperor. Only 62 eggs have survived to this day, of which 54 are imperial. The rest are considered lost and disappeared without a trace. It remains to add that in 1917 the cost of each Fab egg
2 Tyrannosaurus Rex Bones
Tyrannosaurus Rex is a bipedal predator with a massive skull balanced by a heavy and long tail. Its front paws, in comparison with the hind legs, were very small, but at the same time unusually powerful. This pangolin is considered the largest species in its family and the largest land predator in the history of our planet.
In 1945, the remains of this dinosaur were discovered in Mongolia, and then its entire skeleton. In 2012, a certain Eric Prokopi stole some bones and decided to sell them for $1.1 million. The unfortunate seller ended up in prison, and the bones were returned to the museum.
3. Painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch
The Scream is a series of paintings by the expressionist artist Edvard Munch, created in 1893-1910. Four versions of the painting were created, each featuring a human figure screaming in despair against a generalized landscape background and a blood-red sky.
In 1994, the painting was stolen from the National Gallery, but a few months later it was returned to its place. In 2004, The Scream and several other works were stolen from the Munch Museum. They were returned to their place only in 2006, however, with damage. In May 2008, after restoration, the paintings were returned to the exhibition.
4. Ruby slippers
In 1939, the film The Wizard of Oz was released in Hollywood, becoming one of the most successful in the history of cinema. The film used 4 pairs of shoes, which practically did not differ from each other. In these so-called "ruby slippers" in the film, the main character Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, walked.
One pair of ruby slippers was in the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota. But in 2005 they disappeared from the museum, and the whereabouts of this legendary pair of shoes is still unknown. The shoes are valued at $203 million.
5. Stradivarius violin
Antonio Stradivari is a master known for making very high quality and most expensive stringed instruments. Musical instruments that were made between 1689 and 1725 were widely known.
The famous violinist Erika Morini (1904 - 1995) played a Stradivarius violin made in 1727. One day, someone broke into her apartment and stole that legendary violin. Morini died and the violin was never found. The cost of this unique tool is today estimated at 3.5 million dollars.
6. Van Gogh paintings
Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch post-impressionist painter, created more than 2,100 canvases in a little over 10 years, including about 860 oil paintings. But he really became famous only after his death. Even his small canvases began to cost fabulous money.
From the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, 2 paintings were stolen - "Sea View at Scheveningen" and "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" - the total value of which is estimated at 30 million dollars. The thieves were caught and imprisoned, but the paintings never returned to the museum.
7. Cellini salt shaker
"Saliera" is a gold table figurine, which was made in 1543 by the jeweler master Benvenuto Cellini for the French king Francis I. This artifact is considered the pinnacle of arts and crafts of the Mannerist era. In addition, this is the only work of this great master of attribution, which is not in doubt.
It is known that in 1570 King Charles IX presented the Salier to Ferdinand of Tyrol, who was present at his engagement to Elizabeth. Until the 29th century, Saliera remained the pearl of the Innsbruck Ambrass castle, and then it was transported to the capital of Austria to the Museum of Art History.
On May 11, 2003, Saliera was stolen from the museum, which was under renovation at the time. Despite the fact that the cost of the figurine is estimated at more than 50 million euros, the Austrian authorities offered only 70 thousand euros for the return of this unique salt shaker, explaining that it is simply impossible to sell a work of art of this level. On January 21, 2006, the police found Saliera buried in a lead box in a forest near the town of Zvetl.
8 Empire State Building
A 102-story skyscraper in Manhattan, New York, was also once stolen. True, the theft was not real, but only a provocation. In 90 minutes, two Daily News journalists managed to forge documents for the ownership of this building. They showed the officials documents signed by a non-notary public in the legendary bank robber Willy Saton. But no one noticed the trick. All day long, journalists owned one of the most famous skyscrapers, and then admitted that the documents were fake, and they went to this to demonstrate that even the Empire State Building could be stolen in the reigning confusion.
9. Jewelry
In 1994, the largest jewelery theft took place in France. Three armed men robbed a jewelry store in the Carlton Hotel. They stole £30 million worth of jewelry that was rumored to have belonged to one of the most famous French jewelers, Alexandre Reza. Later it turned out that the machine guns were loaded with blank bullets.
10. "Mona Lisa"
But one of the most daring thefts in history was the abduction from the Louvre of the world-famous Mona Lisa by the great master Leonardo da Vinci.
In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia worked as a glazier at the Louvre. Once he noticed that no one was guarding the picture, and could not resist the temptation to steal it. He simply removed the picture from the wall, took it out of the frame, hid the Gioconda under his coat and went home.
For two years the painting was kept in his apartment in a suitcase with a double bottom. The thief was detained when he tried to sell the painting in Italy.
Surprisingly, the fact that art was stolen straight from a museum is not a plot from an old movie or a classic detective story. Unfortunately, these are the realities of today: half the most valuable stolen paintings were abducted in the late XX - early XXI centuries. Despite heavy security, surveillance cameras and alarms, criminal talents still manage to perform such “feats” today. In our review - the most expensive paintings stolen and still not found.
In 2010, a theft took place in France, which was called the “robbery of the century”: a robber took out 5 paintings from the Paris Museum of Modern Art, breaking the window bars. Among the stolen paintings were paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Léger. A year and a half later, the police managed to find both the customer and the artist, but the paintings disappeared without a trace: the customer claimed that he had destroyed them when he discovered that he was being followed. Picasso's "Dove with Green Peas" was the most expensive among the missing - its value is estimated at $ 28 million.
Van Gogh can be called the most favorite artist of the robbers - several of his paintings have already disappeared without a trace. In 2002, two paintings worth $30 million each were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam - "Exit from the Protestant Church in Nuenen" and "Sea View in Scheveningen". The thieves entered the museum through the roof. Two suspects were detained a year later, but the paintings were not found on them.
And in 2010, Van Gogh's "Poppies" ("Vase of Flowers") worth about $50 million was stolen from the Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo in broad daylight. Of the 43 CCTV cameras, only 7 worked, and the alarm was turned off. At the same time, only 10 visitors visited the museum from the moment of opening until the discovery of the loss. The same painting was already stolen in 1978, but then the thief was found and returned to the museum. This time, none of the stolen paintings have yet been found.
High-profile crimes happened in the twentieth century. One of them was the theft of 13 paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. The thieves dressed up as police officers, tied up the guards, locked them in the basement and carried out canvases, among which was the painting “Storm on the Sea of Galilee” by Rembrandt van Rijn and the painting by Vermeer “ Concert". These two works are now called the most expensive of the stolen, the cost of each - $ 500 million.
Many paintings disappeared during World War II, when the Nazis confiscated paintings from museums and private collections. Raphael's painting "Portrait of a Young Man", taken from the Polish Czartoryski Museum in 1939, disappeared without a trace. At the moment, this is one of the most expensive missing paintings - it is estimated at $ 100 million.
A sad fate awaited Caravaggio's painting "Nativity with Saints Francis and Lawrence": in 1969 she disappeared from the chapel of San Lorenzo in Palermo. The Sicilian mafia was accused of the theft; in 2009, one of the defendants admitted in court that the painting was kept in a barn, where it was gnawed by rats and pigs. After that, a masterpiece worth $20 million was burned. However, this version has not been confirmed or refuted.
top 10 most expensive paintings in the world.
Do you think it is possible to steal the Empire State Building - a 102-story skyscraper? It's impossible, you say. However, this actually happened. Did you know that da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa was also once stolen? Check out our 10 most daring thefts in history. Some of the stolen valuables have not yet been found.
10 PHOTOS
1. Mona Lisa.
One of the most daring thefts in history was the theft of the famous Mona Lisa painting by the great master Leonardo da Vinci from the Louvre. This happened in 1911. Vincenzo Peruggia worked as a glazier at the Louvre. One day he noticed that no one was guarding the painting and could not resist the temptation to steal it. Vincenzo went straight to the picture, removed it from the wall, got rid of the frame on the stairs, then hid the Gioconda under his coat and, as if nothing had happened, left the museum. For two whole years he kept it in his Paris apartment in a suitcase with a double bottom. The robber was caught while trying to sell a stolen painting in Italy. (Photo: Kenny (zoompict) Teo/flickr.com).
2. "Scream". The Scream by Edvard Munch is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world. She hangs next to the famous painting Mona Lisa and also became a victim of daring robbers. Munch lived from 1863-1944 and painted several versions of this famous portrait during his lifetime. In 2004, two masked armed men broke into the Munch Museum in Oslo and, threatening the guards with violence, grabbed the painting "The Scream" and ran out of the museum. For two years, nothing was known about the fate of the stolen work of art. Suddenly, the stolen painting was unexpectedly found, but under what circumstances - is silent. (Photo: BangsUndeveloped/flickr.com).
3. Dorothy's shoes from the movie "The Wizard of Oz." The red satin sequined shoes Dorothy (Judy Garland) sported in the famous 1939 film The Wizard of Oz are valued at $1-2 million. At one time, this pair - one of the four known "witch shoes" - could be seen at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2005, the shoes simply evaporated. No one saw anything and no one could tell how they disappeared. And although the investigators had two suspects, the case remained unsolved. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).
4. Works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It was a theft the world had never seen. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, Manet... priceless paintings have disappeared like a stone into water. In the photo: the famous painting "Concert" by Vermeer. (Photo: Mia Feigelson/flickr.com).
March 18, 1990. Early morning. Two men dressed as police officers enter the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. They must have known that the museum was not well guarded. The robbers easily tied up two inexperienced guards and gagged them. And then more than an hour (more precisely 81 minutes) they chose the paintings that they would take with them. The most valuable of the stolen paintings is the "Concert" by Vermeer - this is one of only 36 known works of the Dutch master, worth $ 250 million. In total, daring robbers stole 13 paintings worth at least five hundred million US dollars. What happened next with the paintings and where they are now, is still not known.
5. Empire State Building. Yes, yes, this huge 102-story building located in Manhattan in New York was also once stolen. True, it was not quite a real theft, but only a provocation. Two Daily News journalists forged documents confirming their ownership of this building in just 90 minutes. They presented the officials with a notarial deed, which was signed not by a real notary, but by the legendary bank robber Willy Saton. There was such a mess in municipal documents that no one noticed the catch. Journalists owned the luxurious building all day, and then they themselves admitted that they forged documents to show how easy it is to steal even a skyscraper in such confusion. (Photo: Vivienne Gucwa/flickr.com).
6. Saliere - golden Italian salt shaker. Saliere was made in the 16th century by Benvenuto Cellini, an Italian sculptor and jeweler, commissioned by the French King Francis I. According to experts, its market price is $65 million.
On the night of May 10-11, 2003, during the reconstruction of the facade of the Salière museum, they stole it. As it turned out later, the thief was a museum technician - Robert Manga. The museum has offered a €70,000 reward for helping find Salière. But they found her only three years later, buried in a metal box in a forest in Austria. Robert Mang, who committed the theft, claimed that he only wanted to prove the inefficiency of the security system in the museum, but the court did not believe him and sent him to jail for four years. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).
7. The bell of the monks from Tacoma. Stealing a 1360-kilogram bell from a Buddhist monastery is a real audacity. The theft took place in Tacoma, Washington. The local police concluded that if the thieves were not superheroes with unearthly powers, then at least a forklift and a truck should have been used during the theft, and at least someone should have heard something. However, the thieves stole the huge bell so quietly that none of the monks heard anything suspicious. The inhabitants of the monastery were unable to assess the value of the stolen property, but for them, the bell made in Vietnam was priceless. It was found only three years later, when someone tried to sell it for scrap. The prospective buyer went straight to the police and thus caught the thieves. (Photo: Reuters).
8. "The biggest wardrobe in the world." It was the largest walk-in closet in the world, or so the media called it, and was owned by Teresa Roemer, 52, a businesswoman and former Miss Texas. The three-story dressing room was over 300 square meters. For 30 years, it has collected a large collection of expensive bags, Louboutin shoes, dresses and accessories worth more than $ 2 million.
In early August of this year, Mrs. Remer's wardrobe was stolen. When she and her husband were out, the robbers sneaked in through the bathroom window. As the owner herself later admitted, she forgot to close the window and turn on the alarm. The thieves stole not only designer clothes and accessories, but also a medallion with a lock of hair from Teresa Roemer's dead son. The investigation is still ongoing, and the perpetrators are still walking free. (Photo: Press releases).
9. Dinosaur bones. Four years ago, news stories around the world reported that a Florida-born man named Eric Prokopi stole dinosaur skeleton bones from Mongolia, valued at $1 million. He even managed to ship the bones to the US, but got caught trying to sell them at auction. Surprisingly, the offender received a very lenient sentence - only a month in prison. Dinosaur bones have been returned to Mongolia. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).
10. Violin Davidoff-Morini Stradivari. This case was included in the top 10 art thefts compiled by the FBI. In October 1995, a Stradivarius violin from 1727 was stolen from the apartment of renowned violinist Erica Morini, valued at $3.5 million. It is still not clear why someone stole it, since it is impossible to sell it, since there is no black market for such antiques. What makes the theft all the more daring and tragic is that Erica Morini was at home at the time. She died during the attack, she was 91 years old. The case of the missing Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius violin has not yet been solved. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).
