Art theft

Why do courts lack conviction in art cases?

Collapse of Bulmer theft case is just the latest in string of failed art-related convictions

King Tut’s golden year, Koons’s worst: the highs and lows of the art world in 2019

As Notre Dame burned, protestors called the shots and a gold toilet vanished, it was certainly a year to remember

Crime news

Attempted robbery of Rembrandt paintings at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Theft of two paintings was thwarted thanks to gallery's security staff and systems

Man who stole painting in broad daylight from Moscow museum is sentenced to three years in prison

Denis Chuprikov took the landscape from State Tretyakov Gallery with the aim of "causing hype", he says

'I wish it was a prank': Maurizio Cattelan on the surreal theft of his golden toilet

Man arrested after 18-carat lavatory was forcibly removed from Blenheim Palace

A mystery for the ages: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist

The world’s greatest unsolved art theft continues to obsess—and stump—investigators

Votive paintings smuggled out of Mexico return to public view at Los Pinos presidential palace

The former government residence turned museum will host its first art exhibition

Picasso painting of Dora Maar recovered by ‘Indiana Jones of the art world’

The €25m work was stolen 20 years ago from a yacht on the French Riviera

Stolen in 1985, a recovered de Kooning will undergo conservation treatment

University of Arizona Museum of Art will send its painting, damaged by the thief, to the Getty

Serial art thief Stéphane Breitwieser arrested—again

Having served a six-year jail sentence, he came under suspicion again after offering a 19th-century paperweight on eBay

Thief of Crimean painting at State Tretyakov Gallery apprehended

Brazen incident raises questions about museum security in Russia

Lost artfeature

Lost art: Has Caravaggio’s long missing Nativity been found?

Noah Charney on the Carabinieri's efforts to track down the stolen painting

Banksy print snatched from Toronto show

The work Trolley Hunters went missing during the set up for the ‘unauthorised’ exhibition

Did stolen Caravaggio go to Switzerland?

Mafia informant claims the painting, which is included in the FBI’s list of top ten art crimes, was sold to a Swiss dealer

Indian jewels owned by Qatari sheikh stolen from Venice exhibition

Brooch and earrings removed during the day from a reinforced display case

Theftsnews

Thief walks out of Paris gallery with Botero’s Maternity statue

Galerie Bartoux staff discovered €425,000 bronze missing at closing time

Stolen Baselitz works recovered by police

German investigators find 15 paintings and drawings in Leverkusen, north of Cologne

Museumsarchive

Australia's ill-advised purchase of Indian artefact

The National Gallery of Australia bought the Shiva statue despite uncertainty over its provenance

Rotterdamarchive

Thieves foil high-tech security at Kunsthal Rotterdam

Seven works were stolen as unmanned overnight protection fails

Tatearchive

Thirty-year wait for Turner catalogue almost over?

The Tate says all detailed entries will be available online by 2014, but critics fear loss of scholarship

Art theftarchive

Sandy Nairne and his life as an undercover negotiator: The ethics of retrieving Tate's Turners

The National Portrait Gallery director had a sensitive, secret role in recovering the stolen paintings

Return to power: Zahi Hawass reappointed

Hawass originally resigned due to accusations of illegal activities and military guard ceasing at archeological sites

Jury clears Britons of Da Vinci theft extortion

Three lawyers and two private detectives are now off the hook

Museumsarchive

Grosz heirs vs MoMA case dismissed

MoMA maintains that the Grosz works were never Nazi loot

Art theftarchive

Why has the Tate still not claimed for its stolen Freud?

Although it was covered by British government indemnity, the painting’s value remains unclaimed since its 1988 theft

Art theftarchive

Indonesian antiquities thefts show no sign of abating

Fakes left in place of stolen artefacts in elaborate webs of deceit

Newsarchive

Collector Richard Weisman calls off the hunt for stolen Warhols

Owner cancels reward for his missing set, citing problems with his insurer