« Columbia plans to expand its campus | Main | Eeeek! »
August 6, 2007
Stolen to order?
Daylight art theft in Nice, and the police are suggesting the four paintings - two Breugels, a Money, and a Sisely - were stolen on commission. The weirdest thing about the caper is that two of the works (the BBC doesn't tell us which, damn them!) were stolen about 10 years ago in another commonplace of art theft, the Inside Job - "Two of them were stolen from the same museum nine years ago, but were recovered within a week. The then curator was later jailed for theft."
Oh! Weird and weirder - the Sisely has been stolen 3 times! 2007, 1998, and 1978! It must be some picture! That's from a fuller story in The Age (though they do date the Sisely at 1980, an unfortunate typo under the circumstances).
So this is one of the standard narratives of art theft coverage, "stolen to order of reclusive billionaire who will keep them in a secret gallery because they're too famous to sell." Hm.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at August 6, 2007 6:25 AM