As a result of analysis the new FBI Art Crime Team has identified the Ten Top Art Crimes of All Time.
If you have any information concerning these works of art or circumstances of these crimes, please contact your local field office, nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
1. Theft of Renoir Oil Painting
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| (Renoir, "Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair") |
Estimated value: $1 million
On September 8, 2011, Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair by Pierre Auguste Renoir was stolen during an armed robbery in a Houston home. The masked robber is described as a white male, 18 to 26 years old, who weighs about 160 pounds and is approximately 5’10” tall. He was armed with a large-caliber, semi-automatic handgun. He left with the painting in its frame. She wasn’t hurt. The owner’s art collection was moved to a gallery after the robbery, KTRK reported.
A private insurer is offering up to $50,000 for information leading to the recovery of the painting.
2. Theft from Art Gallery of New South Wales
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| (Van Mieris, "A Cavalier") |
Estimated value: More than $1 million
On June 10, 2007, A Cavalier, a self portrait in oil on wood panel by Dutch Master Frans Van Mieris, was stolen from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The piece was stolen while the gallery was open for public viewing. The relatively small portrait measures 20 x 16 cm. Its value is estimated at over $1 million.
“Please be on the lookout, no matter where you live in the world, for the 350-year-old painting,” an FBI statement said one month later.
3. Theft of the Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius
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| (Stradivarius front) |
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| (Stradivarius back) |
Estimated value: $3 million
In October 1995, it was reported that a $3 million Stradivarius violin had been stolen from the New York City apartment of Erica Morini, a noted concert violinist. Made in 1727 by Antonio Stradivari, the violin is known as the Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius.
Stradivarius violins are considered the best ever made and are prone to thefts. Joshua Bell’s Strad was stolen twice before he legally purchased it, he told Bloomberg News. In 2010, violinist Min-Jin Kym’s $1.5 million Strad was stolen from her in a London Pret a Manger.
4. Theft of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Murals
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| (Oil paintings by Maxfield Parrish, Panel 3A) |
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| (Oil paintings by Maxfield Parrish, Panel 3B) |
Estimated value: $4 million
In July 2002, two oil paintings by Maxfield Parrish were stolen during a burglary of a gallery in West Hollywood, California. The paintings are two panels from a series commissioned for Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s 5th Avenue mansion in New York. The paintings were cut from their frames during the theft. The value of the two paintings is estimated at $4 million.
“These lost masterworks are of extreme artistic importance, and their loss goes past a dollar amount. We’ve also lost a piece of our American cultural heritage,” then-FBI Deputy Assistant Director Deborah Pierce said.
5. Theft of Cezanne’s View of Auvers-sur-Oise
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| (Cezanne, "View of Auvers-sur-Oise") |
Estimated value: $4.5 million
On December 31, 1999, during the fireworks that accompanied the celebration of the millennium, a thief broke into the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England and stole Cezanne’s landscape painting View of Auvers-sur-Oise. Valued at £3 million, the painting has been described as an important work illustrating the transition from early to mature Cezanne painting.
“Whoever has taken this painting has given some thought to how to steal it,” Oxford Police Superintendent John Carr told the BBC. “The person has some reason for it and some outlet for it.”
6. Theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco
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| (Caravaggio, "Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco") |
Estimated value: $20 million
In October 1969, two thieves entered the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Italy and removed the Caravaggio Nativity from its frame. The Mafia is widely believed to be responsible for the 1969 theft of this classic. The FBI holds out hope. Experts estimate its value at $20 million.
7. Van Gogh Museum Robbery
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| (Van Gogh, "View of the Sea at Scheveningen") |
Estimated value: $30 million
In December 2002, two thieves used a ladder to climb to the roof and break in to the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In just a few minutes the thieves stole two paintings: Van Gogh’s View of the Sea at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, valued at $30 million. Dutch police convicted two men in December 2003, but did not recover the paintings.
In July 2004, a Dutch court convicted two men of the theft, sentencing Octave “The Monkey” Durham to four and a half years in jail and Henk Bieslijn to four years, the Associated Press reported. The paintings remain missing.
8. Theft from the Museu Chacara Do Céu, Rio De Janeiro
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| (Salvador Dali, 1929, Two Balconies; 23.5 cm x 34.5 cm; Inventory No. MCC 430) |
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| (Henri Matisse, 1905, Luxembourg Garden; 40.5 cm x 32 cm; Inventory No. MCC 425) |
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| (Pablo Picasso, 1956, Dance; 100 cm x 81 cm; Inventory No. MCC 406) |
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| (Claude Monet, 1880-1890, Marine; 65 cm x 91 cm; Inventory No. MCC 424) |
Estimated value: $45 million, according to the Telegraph
As revelers celebrated Rio de Janeiro’s carnival in February 2006, armed robbers broke into the Museu da Chacara do Ceu and stole its four most valuable paintings: Dali’s The Two Balconies(pictured here), Matisse’s Luxembourg Gardens, Picasso’s The Dance and Monet’s Marine. The thieves threatened security guards with a hand grenade and disabled security cameras, the BBC reported.
“They took advantage of a carnival parade passing by the museum and disappeared into the crowd,” museum director Vera de Alencar told the BBC. Alencar said the thieves were probably specialists from international gangs.
9. Thirteen Pieces From Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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| (Thirteen Pieces From Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) |
Estimated value: $300-500 million
The 1990 theft of 13 pieces from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum “remains the largest property crime in U.S. history,” according to the FBI. On March 18, 1990, two thieves dressed as Boston policemen were allowed into the museum, where they handcuffed and duct-taped two security guards, according to the museum’s website. The stolen art included five Degas paintings, three Rembrandts and a Vermeer (The Concert, pictured here).
“We’ve determined in the years after the theft that the art was transported to the Connecticut and Philadelphia regions. But we haven’t identified where the art is right now,” Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, said at a March 18, 2013, news conference — one month before he would lead the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings.
10. Iraqi Looted and Stolen Artifacts
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| (Statue of Entemena) |
Estimated value: Unknown
On July 25, 2006, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the recovery of the statue of King Entemena of Lagash, one of the most significant pieces looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003. It was returned to the Government of Iraq at a ceremony in Washington, DC.
In March/April 2003, Iraqi cultural institutions and archaeological sites suffered major losses of priceless historical artifacts. Looting from archaeological sites continues on a massive scale. A number of artifacts stolen from the Iraq National Museum have been returned, but between 7,000-10,000 remain missing. Among the missing are the diorite statue of Entemena and almost 5,000 cylinder seals. In February 2005, the FBI recovered and repatriated eight cylinder seals taken from archaeological sites in Iraq.