Ashmolean Museum Cézanne Art Theft: Unsolved Since Dec. 31, 1999

Summary: The Ashmolean Museum Cézanne art theft Dec. 31, 1999, in Oxford, United Kingdom, leaves the world's oldest university museum without a £3 million canvas.

"View of Auvers-sur-Oise," treasured as the only painting by Paul Cézanne in collection of UK's Ashmolean Museum, was removed during millennial fireworks celebration Dec. 31, 1999: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Thames Valley police records attribute the success of the Ashmolean Museum Cézanne art theft Dec. 31, 1999, to light and sound, millennium-celebrating firework shows in Oxford, England, United Kingdom, and to smokescreens.

The removal of View of Auvers-sur-Oise befits the standards for inclusion on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's list of the FBI's top 10 unsolved art thefts. The wayward 19th-century, £3 million-valued painting's theft conjures up Title 18, United States Code, Sections 668 concerning museum artwork and 2314 and 2315 regarding foreign commerce. Uniqueness as the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology's sole painting by Paul Cézanne (Jan. 19, 1839-Oct. 22, 1906) drives inclusion on Art Loss Register databases.

The $4.8 million-valued oil on canvas from 1879 to 1882 emerges as the only theft from the 19th-century paintings in the museum's Hindley Smith (1863-1939) Gallery.

Museums and Galleries Commission records furnish Elias Ashmole's (May 23, 1617-May 18, 1682) namesake museum A1 security ratings months before the 1999 New Year's Eve break-in.

The Thames Valley Police give one burglar nine minutes to break through a skylight, climb in by rope, drop a canister and exit with one painting. The territorial police force gives as evidence abandoned canister and fan for smoke-screening closed circuit security cameras, gloves, hold-all, scalpel and tape and smashed frame pieces. Museum records and police reports have the perpetrator's fan hurtling smoke from the canister toward the Hindley Smith Gallery's burglar and fire alarms and security cameras. They indicate firefighter involvement after a university porter's call to the fire brigade and police involvement by 1:43 a.m. Greenwich Mean, Oxford and Coordinated Universal Times.

John Carr and Duncan McGraw of the Thames Valley Police and James Emson of the Art Loss Register judge the Ashmolean Museum Cezanne art theft similarly.

The Ashmolean Museum's Hindley Smith Gallery keeps masterpieces by such 19th-century Impressionist (1870s-1880s) painters as Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Feb. 25, 1841-Dec. 3, 1919) of Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France.

Artwork by graphic artist, illustrator, painter, sculptor François Auguste René Rodin (Nov. 12, 1840-Nov. 17, 1917) likewise leads daily visitors into Regency-styled Beaumont Street's art gallery. Cézanne, Renoir and Rodin masterpieces mix with representation of Post-Impressionism (1880s-1900s) by draughtsman, illustrator, painter, printmaker Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (Nov. 24, 1864-Sept. 9, 1901).

Superintendent Carr noted that, concerning the Ashmolean Museum Cézanne art theft, "Whoever has taken [only] this painting has given some thought to how to steal it." He observed that, as motives, "The person has some reason for it, and some outlet for it. One possibility is it has been stolen to order."

Spokesman McGraw postulated that "The theory we're going on is that it was stolen to order" for an "art lover somewhere in Britain or the world."

Made-to-order by professionals qualifies as a motive concerning stolen antiques and art for ideology-driven destruction, loan collateral, personal enjoyment, ransom or re-sale, according to Director Emson. Destruction, personal enjoyment by possessive staff members and ransom for prisoner exchanges remain less likely than loan collateral and quick re-sale since nobody reports any viewings. Malcolm Kenwood, Emson colleague at Art Loss Register, specifies that "The majority of items are stolen because they are readily convertible to cash in the underworld."

Director Christopher Brown thinks of the Ashmolean Museum Cezanne art theft as "criminal" and "selfish" since "It is the only Cézanne we have in the Ashmolean."

Ashmolean Museum's new year's eve Cézanne art theft was achieved by skylight entry, not by outside door entry; Ashmolean Museum's entrance screen and steps fronting Beaumont Street; Oxford, Oxfordshire, South East England; May 25, 2015: Magnus Manske, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"View of Auvers-sur-Oise," treasured as the only painting by Paul Cézanne in collection of UK's Ashmolean Museum, was removed during millennial fireworks celebration Dec. 31, 1999: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Auvers-sur-Oise_Paul_Cezanne.png

Ashmolean Museum's entrance screen and steps fronting Beaumont Street; Oxford, Oxfordshire, South East England; May 25, 2015: Magnus Manske, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ashmolean_museum,_Oxford,_Entrance_Screen_And_Steps_Fronting_Beaumont_Street.jpg?uselang=fr

For further information:

Ezard, John. 2 January 2000. "Smoke Bomb Masks Burglar's Theft of £3M Cezanne." The Guardian > Arts > Art & Design > Paul Cezanne.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jan/03/johnezard

Hopkins, Nick. 7 January 2000. "How Art Treasures Are Stolen to Order." The Guardian > World > UK > UK News.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jan/08/nickhopkins

Lyall, Sarah. 3 February 2000. "Art World Nightmare: Made-to-Order Theft; Stolen Works Like Oxford's Cezanne Can Vanish for Decades." The New York Times > Arts > Art.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/03/arts/art-world-nightmare-made-order-theft-stolen-works-like-oxford-s-cezanne-can.html

"Theft of Cezanne's View of Auvers-sur-Oise." Federal Bureau of Investigation > What We Investigate > Violent Crime > Art Theft > Top Ten Art Crimes.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-of-cezannes-view-of-auvers-sur-oise