It might have been one of only two artworks by Michelangelo in Belgium and now a 16th century painting has been snatched from St Ludgerus church in the small Flemish town of Zele. Continue reading
Tag: stolen art
Stolen painting decorated couple’s bedroom for decades
A stolen painting by Willem de Kooning made headlines on 11 August when it re-emerged after 30 years. Now it has been revealed that ‘Woman-Ochre’ was hanging in the bedroom of a couple’s home in New Mexico since it was burgled from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson in 1985. Continue reading
London to host landmark conference on stolen art
Hundreds of experts from across the globe will descend on London in September for an international conference on Nazi-looted art.
‘70 Years and Counting: The final opportunity?’ will be the first European conference dedicated to the issue of spoliation in five years. Organised by the UK Government and the Spoliation Advisory Panel and sponsored by the Commission for Looted Art in Europe the conference will aim to bolster efforts to return stolen artworks to their original owners. It will look at strengthening partnerships and increasing cooperation to speed up the process of restitution. Continue reading
Man attempts to sell stolen masterpieces on Craigslist
It was the biggest art heist recorded in United States history.
In the early hours of 18 March 1990 two men dressed as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Overpowering a night security guard, the thieves stole 13 works of art right off the Museum’s walls. Continue reading
‘Spider-Man’ trial resumes today
The trial of three men involved in an extraordinary art heist worth €180 million (£155 million), which began on Monday (31 January) is due to resume today in Paris.
Earlier this week, the court heard that the five paintings stolen from the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2010 were tossed in the trash by one of the co-defendants. Panicked by the thought of imminent capture, Yonathan Birn is said to have removed the stolen works from their hiding place in his studio and binned them in 2011. Continue reading
Jail for Pablo Picasso’s electrician
Picasso’s former electrician and his wife are facing prison after losing their appeal against a conviction for possessing stolen goods.
Handing down the verdict on Friday (16 December), the judge at the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal described Pierre Le Guennec’s account of events as an “implausible and whimsical tale”. Continue reading
Pablo Picasso’s electrician admits he lied in court over theft charges
Pablo Picasso’s electrician has been accused of attempting to smear his former employer’s reputation in an appeal court in France.
Pierre Le Guennec and his wife Danielle allege that the artist’s widow handed them a rubbish bag filled with works by Picasso following his death in an attempt to hide them from her stepson. Jacqueline Picasso is said to have asked Le Guennec to store between 15 and 17 rubbish bags containing 180 single pieces and a notebook of 91 drawings by Picasso including rare cubist collages and a work from his “blue period”. When she retrieved the bags from him some time later she gave Le Guennec one of them to keep in recognition of his devotion to the family. Le Guennec told the appeal court in Aix-en-Provence that Mrs Picasso had been having problems with her stepson Claude, and was perhaps attempting to prevent the works from being inventoried and subsequently inherited by him. Continue reading
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