Afternoon Art History Fun

[Alyssa]

Smithsonian has an amusing list of the ten most outrageous art thefts of the last century. I didn't know, for example, that the guy who stole the Mona Lisa in 1911 was offended by the idea that an Italian masterpiece was in a French museum, or that the Irish Republican Army ripped off 19 paintings from Russborough House in 1974. It's hard to imagine, in today's transnational and uber-pricey art market that there are many art theives inspired more by intense national pride than the money involved (although this particular crook got caught when he tried to sell Mona Lisa for some serious-in-1911 coin). And stealing art seems like a pretty impractical way to finance your armed resistance movement. In fact, theft is probably best left to bored, art-loving fictional playboys, period.

But whatever the reason, big heists are always fun to think about after the fact. There's the object of the theft to consider: how do you decide your target is going to be a massive museum coin collection of mixed value? There are the logistics: if one is going to steal the Gutenberg Bible, one might factor the fact that it weighs 70 pounds into the planning process. Finally, it's giddy and transgressive to think about. Art theft isn't a victimless crime, but it's less directly and immediately harmful than robbing a little old lady or committing murder or defrauding a pension fund. Prints are cool, but it's fun to imagine having the real thing tucked away to look at.

Comments

I remember reading somewhere that the theft of the Mona Lisa was sponsored by somebody who was in possession of three excellent copies. When he had unloaded them on three unscrupulous-but-gullible millionaires, the original went back to the Louvre.

Very likely this is an urban legend, but I'm not sure I could stand to see it debunked.

Posted by roac | May 28, 2008 3:48 PM

Prints are cool, but it's fun to imagine having the real thing tucked away to look at.

I saw V for Vendetta last night and that guy has the sweetest hideout.

http://www.ugo.com/filmtv/11secretlairs/images/shadow-gallery.jpg

Posted by goethean | May 28, 2008 4:07 PM

the guy who stole the Mona Lisa in 1911 was offended by the idea that an Italian masterpiece was in a French museum

Ha! You believe that? That was a cover story to protect the Knights Templar.

Posted by Gary Sugar | May 28, 2008 4:12 PM

Actually, if you want to see how an art heist is REALLY done, look at how Governor Ed Rendall helped some Jewish billionaires here in Philly lift the multi-billion Barnes Collection out of its home on the Main Line and down into Philly.

This lowly Gentile lacks imagination and would have simply thrown a brick through the window or something.

Details at 10.

Posted by Don Williams | May 28, 2008 4:16 PM

It occurs to me that it might simply be better to point to news stories re how the $20 Billion Barnes art collection was ..er.. "lifted".

To start, See "Barnescam: Or,How to Steal $20 Billion " at http://www.broadstreetreview.com/article.php?idc=2&ida=1

A better insight into how Governor Ed Rendell played Philly hardball politics to grab this $20 Billion art collection for some political donors --using Pennsylvania tax dollars and STRONG armtwisting -- is given in the Wall Street Journal article "Another 'Legal Theft'?" at
http://opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110004062

Posted by Don Williams | May 28, 2008 4:56 PM

There were this recent case on 4 (former) college students tried to robbed the university library's rare book collection, including the original print of John Audubon's "Birds of North America," worth 5 million dollars. The problem they ran into, among others, was that books are heavier then they expected.

http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0062p-06.pdf

My favorite part of the ruling:

"There is some dispute as to whether the robbers intended to take only certain objects or “as much as they could carry,” but, as evidenced by their planning, they had clearly foreseen that the objects they coveted would be very large and heavy. Consequently, they brought with them a (pink)bed sheet, which they laid out on the floor, for carrying the objects. Apparently, even with their planning, however, they had underestimated the sizes and weights, and they were forced to abandon two of the Birds of North America volumes, which were left in the Special Collections Library, atop the pink bed sheet. They also abandoned other volumes, later, while fleeing from the librarians."

"Lipka and Borsuk scrambled into the waiting van and Allen sped away, though not before Ms. Brown had scratched the van with a key in an attempt to mark it for later identification.
Once the robbers had escaped, the police were called, but before the police could document the crime scene, some librarians collected the discarded objects and returned them to their proper places."

Too bad they didn't get death penalty.

Posted by kanchou | May 28, 2008 5:06 PM

Re "too bad they didn't get death penalty"

They sound like the guys in "Crime Spree" -- one of the funniest movies I'v seen recently.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310924/

Posted by Don Williams | May 28, 2008 5:11 PM

It got even worse for them.

"College Caper Appeal Backfires, Robbers to Get Even More Time"
http://www.abajournal.com/news/robbers_appeal_sentence_for_botched_crime_will_get_more_time/

This case had received a lot of attention in the librarian circle. While it's fun to visualize the robbers almost getting run down by librarians in hot pursuit before getting in the van and get away ... It's not entirely a laughing matter for us librarians. One of the librarian was ducktaped and tazered. Before original prints, many old Maps and Atlas had also been vandalized/stolen from library collections. Basically, anything old and looks good framed on a wall, are popular among some collectors.

Like I said, 9 nine years are good start. But death penalty would be better.

Posted by kanchou | May 28, 2008 5:31 PM

Banks. That's where the money is.

Just remember the GPS transponders in the bait money. I didn't.

Actually, today, Internet crime is where the money - and almost never any jail time - is.

Still, being a jewel thief or an art thief is kind of the "high-class" way of being a criminal.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | May 28, 2008 6:54 PM