The Art of Theft

I received a package the other day with a return label that I did not recognize, yes I was very intrigued…a secret admirer sending me a gift? Upon opening it, I found a little card from my aunt in Los Angeles and the book Museum of the Missing. A wonderfully thoughtful gift, I immediately dove into reading it as my family knows I love anything that has to do with art and am also very interested in art crime.

Author Simon Houpt give numerous example after example of the great masterpieces that have been stolen throughout the world, some recovered but most not. He relays stories of the Nazi assault on art in Europe, museums thefts, such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, where art has literally been lifted off the walls and taken, and fictional accounts like The Thomas Crown Affair, which follows a wealthy and bored private equity banker as he plots to steal from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why do people steal these pieces?
For money? For the thrill of it? Surely most pieces have to end up in private collections, no one would dare purchase Johannes Vermeer's The Concert, knowing the piece is red-hot. These are the type of questions Houpt asks and delves into throughout the book while providing great cultural background and information (and awesome pictures).

Chemin de Sèvres

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875)

1858-1859

Oil on canvas

Also interesting, Julian Radcliffe, Director of the Art Loss Register, offers his knowledge in the foreword of the book, discussing what agencies around the world and companies like his are currently doing to help thwart thieves and recover stolen art.

The Concert

Johannes Vermeer

c. 1664

Oil on canvas