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Below is a list of the most famous and
valuable thefts of Art..
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Mona Lisa by Leonardo
da Vinci, stolen - 1911.
The Mona Lisa, valued at approximately US
$713 million in 2010, was stolen August
21st 1911 from the Louvre museum in
Paris. The next day, Louis Beroud, a
painter, walked into the Louvre and went
to where the Mona Lisa had been on
display for five years. However, where
the Mona Lisa should have stood, he found
four iron pegs.
Louvre employee, Vincenzo Peruggia,
stole the painting by entering the
building during regular hours, hiding in
a broom closet, then walking out with it
hidden under his coat after the museum
had closed. Peruggia was an Italian
patriot, who believed Leonardo's painting
should be returned to Italy for display
in an Italian museum.
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Peruggia was caught when he
attempted to sell the Mona Lisa to
directors of the Uffizi Gallery in
Florence. It was exhibited all over
Italy before being returned to the
Louvre in 1913.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa.
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The Storm on the Sea
of Galilee by Rembrandt, stolen -
1990.
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and 12
other works, were stolen from the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston
on the morning of March 18th 1990. The
thieves were disguised as police
officers. This is considered the largest
art theft in US history, remaining
unsolved.
The estimated worth of all the
paintings was as high as $500 million.
Included in the lot were Vermeer's The
Concert; Rembrandt's A Lady and Gentleman
in Black, and Self-Portrait; Govaert
Flinck's Landscape with Obelisk; and
Manet's Chez Tortoni.
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Despite the great efforts of the
local police and the FBI, A reward
is still being offered today for
any information leading to the
return of the 13 missing
paintings.
The paintings' empty frames are
still displayed in their original
locations in the museum.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum.
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Poppies Near Vetheuil
by Monet, stolen - 2008
Poppies near Vetheuil was one of four
paintings stolen from Zurich's, Emil
Buehrle Collection, by an armed gang in
February 2008, valued at about $160
million..
A week after the theft, Monet's
Poppies near Vetheuil (1879) and Van
Gogh's Chestnut in Bloom (1890) were
recovered in an abandoned car parked
outside a psychiatric hospital in the
city.
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Degas' Count Lepic and his
Daughters (1871) and Cezanne's Boy
in a Red Jacket (1888) have yet to
be recovered.
www.buehrle.ch/?lang=en.
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Maya With Doll
by Pablo Picasso, stolen
2007.
Maya With Doll was one of two oil
paintings by Pablo Picasso,
estimated by the police to be worth
$66 million, that were stolen
February 28th 2007. The other
painting was Portrait of
Jacqueline.
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The paintings were robbed
in Paris from the home of
Diana Widmaier-Picasso,
Picasso's granddaughter,
while she and her mother were
asleep. Both paintings were
recovered August 7th
2007.
www.abcgallery.com/P/picasso/picasso42.
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The Madonna of
the Yarnwinder by Leonardo da
Vinci, stolen - 2003.
The Madonna of the Yarnwinder,
valued by Christie's in 2008 at
£15m-£20m, was stolen
from Drumlanrig Castle near
Dumfries in southwest Scotland in
2003.
Two thieves, posing as visitors,
overpowered a woman guide at the
Duke of Buccleuch's Drumlanrig
Castle then snatched the
masterpiece.
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View of the Sea
at Scheveningen by Van Gogh,
stolen 2002.
View of the Sea at Scheveningen was
one of two paintings by Van Gogh,
valued at 30 million dollars, that
were robbed from the Vincent van
Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, December
7th 2002. The other painting was
Congregation Leaving the Reformed
Church in Nuenen.
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Thieves used a ladder to
enter through a high window,
taking just a few minutes to
steal the two pictures from
the main exhibition hall. Two
robbers were captured soon
after, but the paintings
still haven't been
recovered.
.www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=1455&collection.
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The Scream by
Edward Munch, stolen
2004.
The Scream was one of two paintings
by the Norwegian artist Edward
Munch, stolen in 2004 from the Oslo
Munch Museum by two men in masks,
valued at over 30 million dollars.
The other painting was Madonna.
The thiefs entered the museum
through the cafe. While one
threatened visitors and museum
personnel with a pistol, the other
ripped the paintings from the
walls.
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Both men escaped in a
black Audi driven by an
accomplice. Both masterpieces
were recovered in 2006. They
had been damaged, but after
restoration, the pictures
went back on display at the
Oslo Museum May 21st
2008.
.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream.
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The
Flagellation of Christ by Piero
della Francesco, stolen -
February 1975.
Two paintings by Piero della
Francesco, "The Flagellation of
Christ" and "The Madonna of
Senigallia" and a Raphael, "The
Mute," were cut from their frames
and stolen from the Ducal Palace,
Urbino / Italy. This was described
as "the art crime of the
century."
The crime was wholly driven by
profit. It was committed by local
criminals who planned to sell the
work on the international
market.
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The paintings were
recovered undamaged in
Locarno, Switzerland, in
March 1976.
The Flagellation of Christ
can be viewed at the National
Gallery of the Marche, housed
in the Ducal Palace, a
Renaissance building in the
Italian city of Urbino,
listed as UNESCO World
Heritage Site, situated about
40 miles south of Rimini on
the east coast of Italy.
www.abcgallery.com/C/caravaggio/caravaggio44.
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The Duke of
Wellington by Goya, stolen -
1965.
In 1961, the oil-rich American
collector, Charles Wrightsman,,
bought Goya's "Portrait of the Duke
of Wellington" for $392,000,
planning to take it to the United
States. There was such a public
outrage, the British government
raised the necessary matching
sum.
Less than three weeks after its
triumphal hanging in the National
Gallery, it was stolen. The thief
demanded a ransom of the same
amount, stating he was going to
devote the money to charity.
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In 1965, the thief sent a
claim ticket to London's
Daily Mirror, leading to the
painting being picked up by
police in a railway baggage
office. The thief, an
unemployed bus driver named
Kempton Bunton, gave himself
up six weeks later. He had
planned to use the money to
buy TV licenses for the poor.
Bunton served three months in
jail for his offense.
The painting can be viewed
at the The National
Gallery, Trafalgar
Square, London.
www.abcgallery.com/G/goya/goya68.
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Impression
Sunrise by Claude Monet,
stolen - 1985.
Monet’s “Impression
Sunrise", was the most famous of
nine paintings stolen in 1985 from
the Paris Marmottan Museum in
October 1985.
Several paintings stolen from a
provincial French museum in early
1984 were recovered in Japan after
a tip-off from a fence. This gave
police a lead to investigate art
theft syndicates with connections
in Japan.
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The police arrested seven
people after the paintings
were traced to an apartment
in the town of Porto-Vecchio
/ southern Corsica in 1990.
The police declined to say
whether the paintings had
actually been taken to Japan,
or how they arrived in
Corsica.
The paintings were stolen
by Philippe Jamin and Youssef
Khimoun. Since 1991, they
have been back on display in
the Musee Marmottan
Monet in Paris.
www.abcgallery.com/M/monet/monet36.
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