Earth and Space News: FBI top 10 art crimes

Showing posts with label FBI top 10 art crimes. Show all posts

Friday, December 29, 2017

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 Friday, 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, 15:38: Magnus Manske, CC BY SA 4.0 International, 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:

Ashmolean Museum's entrance screen and steps fronting Beaumont Street; Oxford, Oxfordshire, South East England; Monday, May 25, 2015, 15:38: Magnus Manske, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ashmolean_museum,_Oxford,_Entrance_Screen_And_Steps_Fronting_Beaumont_Street.jpg

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

Friday, December 15, 2017

Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft Dec. 7, 2002, on a Quiet Sunday Morn

Summary: The Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, netted two oils on canvas two hours before regular Sunday opening hours.

Vincent van Gogh Museum art thefts Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002: "View of the Sea at Scheveningen" (left) and "The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" (right): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Federal Bureau of Investigation assigns the Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a place on the FBI's list of top 10 unsolved art crimes.

The FBI bases the 10-member list upon violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 641 and 2114, 659, 668, 1170, 1951, and 2314 and 2315. The offenses respectively concern stealing government property, interstate shipments, museum artwork and Native American artifacts and remains, violently obstructing interstate commerce and transporting $5,000-plus-valued, stolen goods. Designation of the two missing, uninsured paintings as FBI list-eligible derives from their combined value of $100-plus million, museum provenance and suspected transportation in foreign commerce.

Contemporary newspaper articles exposed a devastating dimension to the two oils' removal in museum preparations for the following year's 150th anniversary celebration of the artist's birth.

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, scene of thefts of two paintings, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002: Taxiarchos228 at the German language Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Museum records and police reports furnish entry and exit scenarios to Museumplein's (Museum Square's) building with the world's largest collection of van Gogh drawings and paintings.

Contemporary newspaper articles give break-in around 8:00 a.m. Central Europe Standard Time (9:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, Coordinated Universal Time), two hours before the museum's opening. They have the perpetrators heaving a 15-foot (4.57-meter) ladder, and an escape rope, for a broken window one story above street level and a roof hole. They identify forensics officers as carrying off a blanket or large cloth and window glass bits and the ladder as leaning against the museum's rear side.

The Van Gogh Museum art theft jeopardizes the well-being of a church-scape and one seascape by Vincent Willem van Gogh (March 30, 1853-July 29, 1890).

The museum, designed by Hans van Heeswijk, Kisho Kurokawa (April 8, 1934-Oct. 12, 2007) and Gerrit Rietveld (June 24, 1888-June 25, 1964), keeps artworks and correspondence.

Museum inventories list about 200 of 1,000 known paintings, 500 of 1,000-plus known drawings and 600 letters by Post-Impressionism's (1880s-1900s) artist from Zundert, North Brabant province. Contemporary newspaper articles mention museum staff as moving paintings into blank spaces on the museum's main exhibition hall on Paulus Potterstraat before regularly scheduled opening hours. They note the timely functioning of burglar alarms, a priority under John Leighton's directorship from 1997 to 2006, during the Van Gogh Museum art theft.

Former Director Leighton observed, "It's the worst thing that can happen to any museum that a property is stolen, but for any museum it's a risk."

"The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen," 1884 oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, rates among FBI top 10 art crimes after its removal from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum during Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002, art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Amsterdam museum, open since 1973 to ever-increasing visitor traffic, estimated at 1.5-plus million nowadays, possesses some of the artist's most famous works, such as Sunflowers.

The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, church-scape from 1884, and View of the Sea at Scheveningen, from 1882, qualify as the only stolen artworks. The church-scape recalls a pastorship of the artist's parents, Theodorus van Gogh (Feb. 8, 1822-March 26, 1885) and Anna Cornelia Carbentus (Sept. 10, 1819-April 29, 1907). The seascape shows grains from flying sand, gusting winds, raging seas and thundery skies because of the artist's painting during one of the resort's famous storms.

The Van Gogh Museum art theft thwarts Theodorus van Gogh's (May 1, 1857-Jan. 25, 1891) unflagging commitment to public appreciation of his brother's artistic genius.

Museumplein ("Museum Square") unites three prestigious museums in Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (left), Van Gogh Museum (center) and Rijksmuseum (right); Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013, 12:30:56; Ed Webster (interbeat), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Van Gogh Museum art thefts Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002: "View of the Sea at Scheveningen" (left) and "The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" (right): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeegezicht_bij_Scheveningen_-_s0416M1990_-_Van_Gogh_Museum.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_-_Die_Kirche_von_Nuenen_mit_Kirchgängern.jpeg

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, scene of thefts of two paintings, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002: Taxiarchos228 at the German language Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_Museum_Amsterdam.jpg

"View of the Sea at Scheveningen," also known as "Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather," 1882 oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, was removed from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum during Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002, art theft: Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeegezicht_bij_Scheveningen_-_s0416M1990_-_Van_Gogh_Museum.jpg

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 December 2017. "Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft: Flashback to 1991, Déjà Vu in 2002." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/vincent-van-gogh-museum-art-theft.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 December 2017. "Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft: 14 Years of Silence by the Suspects." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/vincent-van-gogh-museum-art-theft-14.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 March 2017. "Van Gogh Museum Theft Return by Gardner Museum Art Theft Anniversary." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/van-gogh-museum-theft-return-by-gardner.html

Moroney, Lindsay. 22 November 2013. "Unsolved Art Heists: The Missing Paintings of Vincent van Gogh." Artnet Worldwide Corporation > Artnet News > Art World > Galleries.
Available @ https://news.artnet.com/market/unsolved-art-heists-the-missing-paintings-of-vincent-van-gogh-35614

NBCNews. December 2002. "From 2002: Thieves Steal 'Priceless' Van Gogh Paintings." Multimedia > Video. Available @ http://www.nbcnews.com/video/from-2002-thieves-steal-priceless-van-gogh-paintings-776414275746

Reuters. 8 December 2002. "Two van Gogh Works Are Stolen in Amsterdam." The New York Times > World.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/world/two-van-gogh-works-are-stolen-in-amsterdam.html

"Two Van Gogh Paintings Stolen." 7 December 2002. British Broadcasting Corporation > BBC News World Edition > Europe.
Available @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2552877.stm

"Two Van Goghs Stolen from Museum." 7 December 2002. Cable News Network > CNN.com/World > Europe .
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/07/vangogh.stolen/

"Van Gogh Museum Robbery." Federal Bureau of Investigation > What We Investigate > Violent Crime > FBI Top Ten Art Crimes Art Crime Team.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/van-gogh-museum-robbery

Wochit News. "After 14 Years, Stolen Van Gogh Paintings Returned To Amsterdam Museum." YouTube. March 21, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azb9H_92CFQ

Friday, December 8, 2017

Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft: 14 Years of Silence by the Suspects

Summary: The Van Gogh Museum art theft sat on FBI top 10 unsolved art crimes lists, despite two arrests, until the artworks, and the next steal, surfaced.

Vincent van Gogh's sentimental painting of his father's Dutch Reformed church for his mother during her recovery from a broken leg was one of two artworks stolen from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum and, until their recovery in 2016, ranked among the FBI's top 10 art thefts; Wednesday, Feb.17, 2016, 12:09, image of Theodorus van Gogh's Dutch Reformed Church (Dutch: Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk), Nuenen, North Brabant (Dutch: Noord-Brabant) province, southern Netherlands: Rosemoon, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

The Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, appears on Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lists of 10 top unsolved art crimes even after two arrests.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence, eyewitness observations and security camera footage brought about two arrests, in Amsterdam and in Puerto Banús, near Mallorca, Spain, in Dec. 2003. Physical evidence on a discarded baseball cap, and possibly on a broken window, a large cloth, a roof hole and an abandoned ladder convicted both suspects. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), NL (Netherlands) Times and New York Times articles described one four-year sentence and, respectively and variously, another 4.5-year, 3.5-year or 25-month sentence.

Convictions July 26, 2004, under Judge Ge Janssen, exacted lesser sentencing for suspected accomplice Henk Bieslijn and a slightly longer sentence for suspected perpetrator Octave Durham.

Her Excellency Mariëtte (Jet) Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, ascertains justice in return of paintings to museum walls and placement of perpetrators in prison: Rijksoverheid (Government of the Netherlands), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons

The FBI found room in its National Stolen Art File database, and time for its 16 Art Crime Team special agents, to follow leads until retrieval. Mariëtte Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science since Nov. 5, 2012, gauged justice as getting served with perpetrators in prison and paintings on museum walls.

Newspapers have no record of any public confession to guilt by either suspect, both of whom held to being framed and innocent, until March 21, 2017. A 45-minute documentary on that date, through KRO-NCRV (Katholieke Radio Omroep, Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging [Catholic Radio Broadcasting, Dutch Christian Radio Association]), included the Durham confession.

De man die twee Van Goghs stal (The Man Who Stole Two Van Goghs) jostled recollections of just one Van Gogh Museum art theft suspect.

"Morgen in de Telegraaf, de hoofdpersoon van mijn documentaire. Okkie Durham, de man die twee Van Goghs stal. Dinsdag op tv, 20:30u, NPO2." (English: Tomorrow in De Telegraaf, the main character of my documentary. Okkie Durham, the man who stole two Van Goghs. Tuesday on TV, 20:30 [8:30 PM], [channel] NPO2): Vincent Verweij @vverweij, via Twitter March 17, 2017

Vincent Verweij, co-author with Wim Van de Pol of The Holloway Files, kept the documentary film focused upon "art theft from the perspective of the thief." Meetings through crime blogger Martin Kok in 2015 led to filming once Durham "admitted that he'd told me a lie and that he did the break-in."

The interviewee mentioned the over-sized Potato Eaters, one of 20 paintings removed from, and returned to, the museum April 14, 1991, and over-guarded Sunflowers as targets. He noted needing to ad-lib with the churchscape and the seascape as alternate targets negotiating escapes by ladder or rope and nestling into a takeaway bag.

Damage occurred in the form of a "missing rectangular chip from the bottom left-hand corner" of the seascape during the Van Gogh Museum art theft.

The getaway proved so stressed, with protocol permitting an eyewitness security guard to phone police but not pursue perpetrators, that the seascape plunked down too hard.

The documentary quoted Durham, assistant and driver to his TopNotch hip-hop-recording daughter, as dumping frames in a canal and flushing loosened paint chips down a toilet. It revealed Cor van Hout (Aug. 18, 1957-Jan. 24, 2003), kidnapper of billionaire Alfred Heineken (Nov. 4, 1923-Jan. 3, 2002) Nov. 9, 1983, as intended buyer. The painting stayed in a Staatsliedenbuurt (State Leaders Neighborhood) apartment cupboard longer than expected, because of the intended purchaser's death the Friday of the planned sale.

The documentary tracked both Van Gogh Museum art theft casualties to marijuana-selling coffee shop operator Pinocchio's purchase March 2003 for "around 350,000 euros (roughly $380,000)."

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Her Excellency Mariëtte (Jet) Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science: Rijksoverheid (Government of the Netherlands), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jet_Bussemaker_2012.jpg

"Morgen in de Telegraaf, de hoofdpersoon van mijn documentaire. Okkie Durham, de man die twee Van Goghs stal. Dinsdag op tv, 20:30u, NPO2." (English: Tomorrow in De Telegraaf, the main character of my documentary. Okkie Durham, the man who stole two Van Goghs. Tuesday on TV, 20:30 [8:30 PM], [channel] NPO2: Vincent Verweij @vverweij, via Twitter March 17, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/vverweij/status/842831407298871298

"Aardappeleters (The Potato Eaters)" was considered as a target during the December 2002 break-in; Van Gogh Museum, Monday, June 29, 2009, 07:34: marlies bouton, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLANL_-_efraa_-_aardappeleters_Vincent_van_Gogh_1885.jpg

Vincent Verweij's documentary of the Van Gogh Museum 2002 art theft reveals Cor van Hout, co-kidnapper of Alfred "Freddy" Heineken in 1983, as the intended buyer of the stolen seascape; Thursday, Jan. 22, 1987, cropped image of Cor van Hout during his and Willem Holleeder's trial at Amsterdam's Paleis von Justitie (Palace of Justice) as Heineken kidnappers; GaHetNa (Nationaal Archief NL) 933-8690: Rob Bogaerts (ANEFO), Public Domain CC0 1.0 Universal, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VHout_(cropped).jpg; CC0, via Nationaal Archief NL @ https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/fotocollectie/ad5bd4d8-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84

For further information:

Associated Press. 27 July 2004. "Van Gogh Thieves Say They Were Framed." Fox News Network, LLC.
Available @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/07/27/van-gogh-thieves-say-were-framed.html

Associated Press and Sarah Dean for MailOnline. 30 September 2016. "Two Van Gogh Paintings Stolen in a Daring Raid from a Dutch Museum in 2002 Are FOUND Wrapped in a Cloth in a Safe After Tip-off from a Mafia Suspect Led Italian Police to Hideout." Daily Mail > News > World News > Arts.
Available @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3815383/2-Van-Gogh-paintings-recovered-Italian-anti-Mafia-police.html

Broekroelofs, Jelle. 21 March 2017. "Hoe deze Amsterdamse man twee Van Goghs stal." Brandpunt.
Available @ https://brandpunt.kro-ncrv.nl/brandpunt/deze-man-stal-twee-van-goghs/

de Boer, Sacha. 21 March 2017. "Brandpunt Special: De Van Gogh-roof." Katholieke Radio Omroep en Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging > KRO-NCRV > Programma's > Brandpunt.
Available @ http://pers.kro-ncrv.nl/programmas/brandpunt/brandpunt-special-de-van-gogh-roof

DeWereldDraaitDoor‏ @dwdd. 21 March 2017. "Vanavond in #DWDD: Octave 'Okkie' Durham, die in 2002 twee Van Goghs roofde." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/dwdd/status/844216908912230401

Jolly, David. 1 November 2012. "Amsterdam Shops Selling Marijuana to Stay Open." The New York Times > World > Europe.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/world/europe/amsterdam-mayor-says-cannabis-coffee-shops-will-remain-open.html

McKenna, Josephine. 30 September 2016. "Van Gogh Masterpieces Stolen from Amsterdam in Daring Heist 14 Years Ago Turn up in Italian Mafia's Country Mansion." The Telegraph > News.
Available @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/30/van-gogh-paintings-discovered-in-italy-14-years-after-they-were/

Montgomery, Paul L. 15 April 1991. "Lost and Found: Huge van Gogh Theft Fails." The New York Times > U.S. Edition > Arts.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/15/arts/lost-and-found-huge-van-gogh-theft-fails.html

Omroep VARA @omroepvara. 21 March 2017. "De veroordeelde Van Gogh-dief Octave Durham - die naar eigen zeggen onderdook bij Patrick Kluivert - schuift vanavond aan bij #dwdd." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/omroepvara/status/844237671467794436

Pieters, Janene. 21 March 2017. "Van Gogh Museum Robber Claims He Hid with Football Legend Patrick Kluivert." Netherland Times > NLTimes.nl > Art, Crime, Sports.
Available @ http://nltimes.nl/2017/03/21/van-gogh-museum-robber-claims-hid-football-legend-patrick-kluivert

Reuters. 8 December 2002. "Two van Gogh Works Are Stolen in Amsterdam." The New York Times > World.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/world/two-van-gogh-works-are-stolen-in-amsterdam.html

Siegal, Nina. 19 March 2017. "As Stolen Van Goghs Return to View, a Thief Tells All." The New York Times > Art & Design.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/arts/design/van-gogh-museum-theft-octave-dunham.html?_r=0

"Two Jailed over Van Gogh Thefts." British Broadcasting Corporation > BBC News > Entertainment > Arts & Culture > 22 July 2004.
Available @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3928943.stm

"Two Stolen Van Gogh Paintings Back on Display in Amsterdam." Euronews > Netherlands > 22 March 2017.
Available @ http://www.euronews.com/2017/03/22/two-stolen-van-gogh-paintings-back-on-display-in-amsterdam

"Two Van Gogh Paintings Stolen." British Broadcasting Corporation > BBC News World Edition > Europe > 7 December 2002.
Available @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2552877.stm

"Two Van Goghs Stolen from Museum." Cable News Network > CNN.com/World > Europe > 7 December 2002.
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/07/vangogh.stolen/

van Gestel, Marten. 21 March 2017. "Het absurde verhaal van een kruimeldief die twee Van Goghs jatte." Brandpunt.
Available @ https://brandpunt.kro-ncrv.nl/brandpuntplus/twee-gestolen-van-goghs/

Vincent Verweij @vverweij. 17 March 2017. "Morgen in de Telegraaf, de hoofdpersoon van mijn documentaire. Okkie Durham, de man die twee Van Goghs stal. Dinsdag op tv, 20:30u, NPO2." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/vverweij/status/842831407298871298

Wochit News. 30 September 2016. "'Priceless' Van Gogh Paintings Found 14 Years After Theft." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHNa_GA7AWk

Friday, December 1, 2017

Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft: Flashback to 1991, Déjà Vu in 2002

Summary: The Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft April 14, 1991, of 20 paintings set the stage for the devastating, 14-year loss Dec. 7, 2002, of two masterpieces.

"Aardappeleters (The Potato Eaters)," one of Vincent van Gogh's earliest paintings, numbered among 20 artworks removed during the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Van Gogh Museum, Monday, June 29, 2009, , 07:34: marlies bouton, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

The dates April 14, 1991, and Dec. 7, 2002, actuate negative connotations in their occurrence and positive invocations in their recurrence as Van Gogh Museum art theft anniversaries in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The two thefts, as the only art crimes at the world-largest collection of van Gogh correspondence, drawings and paintings since June 2, 1973, brandished different means. The two crimes compelled caution, celerity and coordination by two perpetrators because of large artworks, multiple levels and security systems and due to police response times. The first of the museum's only two art thefts drew upon a subsequently corrected weakness in closing time procedures and the second in after-hours rooftop access.

Police officers encountered all artworks, and no suspects, in the first case and both suspects one year, and both artworks nine years, later in the second.

"Still Life With Bible" (1885) was one of three paintings requiring serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The New York Times furnished descriptions April 15, 1991, of two perpetrators armed with pistols, disguised by ski masks and gathering paintings into expandable garment bags.

Paul Montgomery (May 25, 1936-Oct. 16, 2008), New York Times reporter for local and international affairs, gleaned oddities in the thieves giving orders in "American-accented English." The two perpetrators had the third-shift weekend security guards "turn off the infrared-sensing alarm system, which can detect movement in a room, and other protective systems." Selecting and stuffing into two bags 20 of Vincent van Gogh's (March 30, 1853-July 29, 1890) "more valuable later works" involved a less than two-hour timeline.

The Van Gogh Museum art theft juggled timelines from 3 to 4:47 a.m. Amsterdam Daylight Time (ADT, 1 a.m. to 2:47 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time [UTC]).

The museum on Paulus Potterstraat, in the Museum Square of Amsterdam's Museum Quarter neighborhood, kept to 5 p.m. ADT (3 p.m. UTC) closes Saturdays in 1991.

Schedules led to reconstructions of both perpetrators locating hiding places, for at least 10 hours, somewhere amid three floors of paintings and a fourth of drawings. Their emergence manifested familiarity with the four-floor collection in their maximizing choices from the artist's "vibrant" French period and minimizing those from his "gloomy Dutch period." The two perpetrators nabbed one of the earliest masterpieces, The Potato Eaters of April 1885, and one of the last, Wheatfield With Crows of July 1890.

Van Gogh Museum art theft records observed a 4:48 a.m. ADT (2:48 a.m. UTC) alarm and a 5:23 a.m. ADT (3:23 a.m. UTC) recovery time.

"Wheatfield With Crows" (1890), one of Vincent van Gogh's last paintings, required serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Eyewitness accounts and physical evidence pegged two perpetrators packing 20 paintings into two garment bags in a Volkswagen Passat for parking at the Amstel train station.

Seventeen paintings, "scratched by the rough handling," qualified for minor repairs and three, "severely torn when they were stuffed into the garment bags," for serious restoration. Ronald de Leeuw, museum director (1986-1996), revealed damage to Still Life With Bible of October 1885, Still Life With Fruit of 1887 and Wheatfield With Crows. Previous experience suggested the repairability of all 20 artworks, none of them insured, since "works with more serious damage had been successfully restored in the past."

Van Gogh Museum art theft trails respectively turned up artworks without perpetrators in 1991, and suspects without artworks from 2002 until 14 search-and-rescue years later.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

"Still Life With Bible" (1885) was one of three paintings requiring serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Libro_Vincent_van_Gogh.jpg

"Still Life With Quinces, Lemons, Pears and Grapes" (1887), also known as "Still Life With Fruit," was one of three paintings requiring serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Kweeperen,_citroenen,_peren_en_druiven_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Ronald de Leeuw, director of the museum at the time of the 1991 theft, deemed the 20 damaged paintings to be repairable; Ronald de Leeuw (second from right), Stichting Van Gogh (Van Gogh Foundation) press conference, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 1989; GaHetNa (Nationaal Archief NL) 934-3928: Rob C. Croes (ANEFO), Public Domain CC0 1.0 Universal, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BechtPatijnLeeuwWolk.jpg;
CC0, via Nationaal Archief NL @ https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/fotocollectie/ad7076d6-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84

For further information:

Friday, November 10, 2017

Caravaggio Nativity Art Theft: Destruction by Fire, Heroin, Pigs, Rats

Summary: The Caravaggio Nativity art theft Oct. 18, 1969, in Palermo, Sicily, ends badly if the masterpiece really expired amid flames, heroin, pigs or rats.

Mafia pentiti (penitents) confess to dreadful destruction scenarios for Caravaggio's Nativity, stolen from Palermo, Sicily's Oratory of San Lorenzo in 1969; the oratory's tranquil courtyard: the oratory's tranquil courtyard: Effems, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Two informants arrived at destruction by fire as the outcome of the Caravaggio Nativity art theft Oct. 18, 1969, whereas another informant associated the painting's destruction with a badly buried, booty-filled chest.

Francesco Marino Mannoia, one of the informants called pentiti (penitent informers), brought personal perspectives as the self-confessed, in 1996, of two Caravaggio Nativity art theft perpetrators. He confessed to cutting with a razor blade, folding, gashing in an elevator door and incinerating the canvas because of the ideator's bemoaning and canceling consignment.

Roberto Conforti, Carabinieri (Military Police) Art Squad Commandant, declared, "This is the first time that a pentito has admitted to being the author of this crime." General Conforti, carabiniere since 1961 and art investigations chief retired since 2002, emphasized, "We have a confession. Now we have to see if it is trustworthy."

Mafia pentito Francesco Marino Mannoia (nickname: Mozzarella) is a self-confessed gasher and incinerator of the stolen Caravaggio Nativity; Mannoia under arrest by two policemen, New Year's Day, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 1980: Enzo Brai/Mondadori Portfolio, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Caravaggio scholar Maurizio Marini (Nov. 4, 1942-Aug. 3, 2011) found "something fishy" since "Even a chicken thief knows that paintings should be rolled and not folded." He gave in explanation, "It could be true that he was one of the underdogs who stole the painting, but I don't think it was destroyed."

Peter Robb, Australian-born author of M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio and of Midnight in Sicily, has the same outlook as one of General Conforti's officers. The Art Work Protection Unit officer indicates, "He [Francesco Mannoia] didn't lie. He just remembered wrongly. Another painting was stolen in Palermo around the same time." He judges that "That's the one he took, the one that was ruined" sometime around the perpetration of the Caravaggio Nativity art theft Oct. 17-18, 1969.

Mafia pentito Gaspare Spatuzza has linked Caravaggio Nativity theft with Mafia bosses: Blitz quotidiano @BlitzQuotidiano, via Twitter Sep. 30, 2014

Fiery destruction after brutal takeaways and rough hideaways kindled the Caravaggio Nativity art theft-related account by Gaspare Spatuzza, pentito from Brancaccio, traditional working-class quarter within Palermo.

Spatuzza, like Salvatore Cancemi (March 19, 1942-Jan. 14, 2011), Cupola (dome literally, Sicilian Mafia Commission culturally) member and subsequent pentito, linked the Nativity with Mafia bosses. Both pentiti mentioned the top bosses as maintaining the Caravaggio Nativity propped against a wall during the meetings of the Sicilian Mafia Commission into the 1980s.

Spatuzza noted the painting's nestling into a barn, where neglect netted the barn-themed oil on canvas getting "ruined, eaten by rats and hogs, and therefore burned." He offered as the location of the demise of the only Caravaggio Nativity art theft casualty a barn of the Palermo-based clan of Giovan Battista Pullarà.

Lynda Albertson of Association for Research into Crimes Against Art professes, "I am quite confident that no one left a Caravaggio in a barn with pigs." The Rome-based organization's Chief Executive Officer quips, "You might do that if you are a crazy person, but this was a bit more organized than that."

A third reconstruction rolls the masterpiece into a carpet within a chest replete with 11.02 pounds (5 kilograms) of heroin and millions of euros in cash. No Carabinieri-organized search yet supports burial of the destroyed Nativity in a cash-filled, drug-stuffed chest on alleged trafficker Gerlando Alberti's (Sept. 18, 1927-Feb. 1, 2012) property.

Giovanni Pastore, Carabinieri Art Squad Colonel and Vice-Commandant retired since 2011, treats Caravaggio Nativity art theft casualty destructions as non-evidential and hideaways in Italy as likely.

Could the stolen Caravaggio Nativity be enclosed in a cash-filled, drug-stuffed chest on the property of Gerlando Alberti, a member of Cosa Nostra's Porta Nuova family in Palmero? Nicknamed U Paccarè (the imperturbable one), he is credited with saying, "Mafia? What is that? A kind of cheese?"; Gerlando Alberti at a Mafia trial in the 1970s: Public Domain, 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:

Mafia pentiti (penitents) confess to dreadful destruction scenarios for Caravaggio's Nativity, stolen from Palermo, Sicily's Oratory of San Lorenzo in 1969; the oratory's tranquil courtyard: Effems, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OSL_(Palermo)_16_07_2019_26.jpg

Mafia pentito Gaspare Spatuzza has linked Caravaggio Nativity theft with Mafia bosses: Blitz quotidiano @BlitzQuotidiano, via Twitter tweet of Sep. 30, 2014, @ https://twitter.com/BlitzQuotidiano/status/516958053544235008

Caravaggio's Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence (Natività con i Santi Lorenzo e Francesco d'Assisi): Yorck Project, Public Domian, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo_Caravaggio_035.jpg

Blitz quotidiano @BlitzQuotidiano. 30 September 2014. "Gaspare Spatuzza: 'Io responsabile di 40 omicidi, chiedo perdono." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/BlitzQuotidiano/status/516958053544235008

"M 6.9 - southern Italy." United States Geological Survey > Science > Science Explorer > Earthquake Hazards Program > Earthquakes > Significant Earthquakes Archive > Earthquake Lists, Maps & Statistics > Significant Earthquakes - 1980.
Available @ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usp0001ay4#executive

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 November 2017. "Caravaggio Nativity Art Theft: Deadly Brutal Takeaway, Rough Hideaway." Earth and Space News Blog. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/11/caravaggio-nativity-art-theft-deadly.html

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. "Italy: Avellino, Potenza, Castera, Naples." National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration > National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service > National Centers for Environmental Information > Natural Hazards > Significant Earthquake Database.
Available @ https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?eq_0=4903&t=101650&s=13&d=22,26,13,12&nd=display

Poole, Robert M. July 2005. "Ripped from the Walls (and the Headlines)." Smithsonian Magazine > Arts & Culture > Art > Art Crimes.
Available @ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/ripped-from-the-walls-and-the-headlines-74998018/

Robb, Peter. 2001. M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio. New York NY: Picador.

Robb, Peter. 2007. Midnight in Sicily. New York NY: Picador.

Schütze, Sebastian. 2017. Caravaggio: Complete Works. Cologne, Germany: Taschen.

Watson, Peter. 1984. The Caravaggio Conspiracy: A True Story of Deception, Theft, and Smuggling in the Art World. New York NY: Penguin/Doubleday.

Friday, November 3, 2017

Caravaggio Nativity Art Theft: Deadly Brutal Takeaway, Rough Hideaway

Summary: The longer the Caravaggio Nativity art theft Oct. 18, 1969, in Palermo, Sicily, stays unsolved the more it suggests deadly brutal takeaways and hideaways.

Could Caravaggio's stolen Nativity have been destroyed during the Irpinia earthquake in southern Italy? An informant places the stolen masterpiece in Laviano, a small mountain community where the earthquake left death and uninhabitable buildings; historical photo of post-earthquake Laviano: US Army Africa, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

The Oratorio di San Lorenzo (Oratory of Saint Lawrence) in Palermo, Sicily, accommodates the special ambient requirements of its missing altarpiece and masterpiece despite the Caravaggio Nativity art theft Oct. 18, 1969.

The longer art crimes belong in unsolved categories, the more they bring up fears of destruction by rough handling during takeaways and rough situations in hideaways. Destructive takeaways can come about through carelessness, through celerity, through challenges to calm cunning in confronting alarms, cameras, detectors, fixtures, guards and passersby or through contempt. Destructive situations in hideaways derive from incendiary events such as earthquakes, inclement weather such as storms and from inconsistent or incorrect humidity, light and temperature matches.

All of the above-mentioned agents, means and opportunities, whether motivated by accident or deliberation, emerge among excuses and extrapolations for almost 50 years of silent exile.

Town of Teora, located west of 1980 Irpinia earthquake's epicenter in Conza della Campania, suffered extensive damages; image uploaded 20 mag 2009 (May 20, 2009) to Italian Wikipedia by Razzairpina: pubblico dominio (Public Domain), via Italian Wikipedia

Disasters feature early on, with the Irpinia earthquake focused Nov. 23, 1980, upon Castelnuovo di Conza, Conza della Campania and Teora in southwest Italy's Campania region. The Earthquake Hazards Program of the United States Geological Survey gives 6.2-mile (10-kilometer) depths, 6.9 moment magnitudes and 19:34:53:800 Central European Time (18:34:53:800 Coordinated Universal Time). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website's significant earthquake database has 12,389 casualties (4,689 people killed and 7,700 injured), 400,000 homeless and $20 billion in damages.

The 1980 Irpinia earthquake hypothetically initiates the Caravaggio Nativity's damage or destruction, according to Peter Watson, intellectual historian and investigative reporter from Birmingham, England, United Kingdom. It hypothetically jolts an informant and the Caravaggio Nativity art theft casualty into oblivion in Laviano, Salerno province, 5.2 miles (8.4 kilometers) from Conza della Campania.

USGS ShakeMap of 1980 Irpinia earthquake; last updated 2017-04-12 at 05:58:04 UTC: ATLAS/US Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

Inclement weather, inconsiderate packaging and positioning and inconsistent or incorrect humidity, light and temperature levels keep hypothetical company with incendiary events regarding the truant Caravaggio Nativity.

Humidity at 50 percent, protection from light and temperature at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21.11 degrees Celsius) let the Caravaggio Nativity last in the 400-plus-year-old painting's hideaway. Storage unrolled, to minimize cracking and flaking paint, and wrapped in acid-free paper at one humidity-, light- and temperature-controlled environment maintains the painting's longevity and value. The list of ambient and storage requirements nestles into familiar niches for listeners to the yearly message from Anne Hawley, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Director 1989-2015.

Adherence offers the Federal Bureau of Investigation's top 10 unsolved art crimes, including the Caravaggio Nativity art theft and the Gardner Museum art theft, optimistic outcomes.

entrance to Palermo's Oratorio di San Lorenzo, site of Caravaggio Nativity 1969 art theft: Museo Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 20, 2013

Both Van Gogh Museum art theft casualties, purloined Dec. 7, 2002, and put into 14-year storage by their purchaser, prove the positive pull of proper procedure. Brutal takeaways, not hideaways, qualify them for rigors as evidence against Raffaele Imperiale, exhibition in Italy and the Netherlands and restoration from May 15, 2017, onward.

Even more brutal takeaways render the heavier, larger Caravaggio Nativity and Gardner Museum stolen artworks far less resistant to rumored terminal brutality in their respective hideaways. Upright packaging in acid-free paper in clean, dark, disaster- and weather-proof, low-traffic, temperate storage supports survival, despite brutal takeaways, unless adverse associations and counterproductive strategies surface.

Refined replica, regular hours, restored interiors and revised security tell Caravaggio Nativity art theft perpetrators and controllers that the Oratory's restorers turn temporary hurts into haloes.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

USGS ShakeMap of 1980 Irpinia earthquake: ATLAS/US Geological Survey, Public Domain, via USGS Earthquake Hazards Program @ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usp0001ay4#shakemap

entrance to Palermo's Oratorio di San Lorenzo, site of Caravaggio Nativity 1969 art theft: Museo Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 20, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/MuseoItalia/posts/pfbid0AgAWVkk2hLR3zQgiRB3uF6kJB9tFyUrRWXpefsZRMGjiwQWu7wt4B1jhsEcQ2XeTl/;
Museo Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 20, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/MuseoItalia/photos/a.555755571172996.1073742059.128222747259616/555755861172967/;
Museo Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 20, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=555755861172967&set=a.555755571172996

interior of Palermo's Oratorio di San Lorenzo: unlike the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Oratory has now replaced its stolen art masterpiece with a refined replica; like the Gardner Museum, the Oratory has updated security: Museo Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 28, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/MuseoItalia/posts/pfbid02Rfat6jeaBCT8wG1TqCzDAp3mTNLwqniQwHXxJRecgqE7Bb3YF2An9T413Lgq9pcil/;
Museo Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 28, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/MuseoItalia/photos/a.555755571172996.1073742059.128222747259616/745022552246296/;
Museo Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 28, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=745022552246296&set=a.555755571172996

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 October 2017. "Caravaggio Nativity Art Theft October 1969 Has a Casualty or Survivor?" Earth and Space News Blog. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/10/caravaggio-nativity-art-theft-october.html

"Italy: Avellino, Potenza, Castera, Naples." National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration > National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service > National Centers for Environmental Information > Natural Hazards > Significant Earthquake Database.
Available @ https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?eq_0=4903&t=101650&s=13&d=22,26,13,12&nd=display

Musei Italiani. 20 November 2013. "L'oratorio di San Lorenzo è situato nella città di Palermo dove si trovano ancora molti oratori che sorsero tra la fine del Seicento e il secolo successivo." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MuseoItalia/photos/a.555755571172996.1073742059.128222747259616/745022552246296/

Schütze, Sebastian. 2017. Caravaggio: Complete Works. Cologne, Germany: Taschen.

Watson, Peter. 1984. The Caravaggio Conspiracy: A True Story of Deception, Theft, and Smuggling in the Art World. New York NY: Penguin/Doubleday.