Largest Art Heist in HISTORY!!

Hello people, long ago I don’t post! So, how are doing? Everything is fine? I hope so :)

Well, do you want to know about the largest art heist in HISTORY? Sounds cool right? But the thing is that, as we saw in other art heists, it was pretty easy. Ok, now, let me tell you a little about the museum, so that you can understand some things that will come later with the story of the heist. When Gardner’s husband, a magnate, died in 1898, he left his wife Gardner like 3 million dollars, with which Gardner started constructing in her house (or that’s what it looks like). And some years later, when Gardner died, she asked for her house to remain as a museum, and the paintings stayed as she had already hung them. So, basically, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an antique house, that’s why it is more reasonable to understand that they may not have the huge necessary security, and so the thieves could stole the paintings in an easy way.

So, back to the heist story, it was kind of like this: there were some guards, inexperienced guards, (apparently, according to what CBS News says), obviously, doing their guard. When two other mans came to them, they were dressed with the guard’s uniforms, and they tell the two naïve guards that they were investigating something, a disturbance issue, and then out of the blue they tied up the guards and wandered in the museum like about 80 minutes or so. The thieves took 13 artworks during that time and then leave. They were taking the paintings from their frames with something like a cutter, maybe because they didn’t wanted to ruin the painting or something, like it they already knew how to do the stuff, looks like they were already paid and explained by someone. Among the paintings they stole, there were two from Rembrandt, taking his only seascape painting "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee," “The Concert” from Verneer, some drawings by Degas, Manet, and a Chinese bronze beaker. This all counts like over 200 million dollars.

It looks like they knew what they were doing, where they were heading to, which works they were looking for. And that most be because someone else helped them with the plan, and maybe he/she paid them with money for the “fake guards” to steal the stuff.

The paintings haven’t being found until nowadays, considering that the theft was on March, 18, 1990, it’d being like 21 years without finding them. And what’s worse is that maybe they are in some rich person’s house as an exhibition or someone’s basement.

So, what do you think? I hope you found it interesting, I would like to keep talking about it, but I’m out of time, sorry :(  Post you next week! :D

472 Words

Stephany Gómez Oropeza

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-

Gardner Mystery Lingers 20 Years On. CBS News. CBS EVENING News. 8 de March de 2010. <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/06/eveningnews/main6273666.shtml>.

Holiday's won't avoid museums to get assaulted :/

Hi people! How are you doing? Are you doing well in school or work? I hope there’s no problem with anything. Well, well, well! Nowadays, isn’t it typical for us to worry about being assaulted in our homes? Especially on holidays where you can’t monitor everything that happens in your house because of all the noise and people who is celebrating outside? Yeah, and we do that since it is true that there are many thefts in holidays and so. But would you believe me if I tell you that actually it had happened to a museum before? Indeed, Oxford’s Ashmolean museum had being assaulted many times, but one time did happen during New Year’s festivities. Yes people, the 1^st of January of 2000, the painting Auvers-sur-Oise by Paul Cezanne was taken in no longer than 10 minutes during the “Happy New Year”. (THE INDEPENDENT)

Well, I have to say that even though it was a bad starter for Ashmolean museum, not only for the New Year, but also for the new millennium, the heist was well done. If you imagine a movie of art heists were there are people who walks in the roofs and then enter with a smoke canister and stuff, you’re kind of describing Auvers-sur-Oise’s theft. I found out that it is unknown if it was only one person or a gang of thieves, but it is known that either of them entered the museum through the glass roof and used a rope ladder into the gallery. It seems that they came through the roofs of the university buildings, I mean, they were literally jumping building to building so that it was easier to enter the museum and get the painting. Once they got into the museum, they used the smoke canister (that made the guards unable to watch) took the painting, and left. That’s why they weren’t able to avoid the theft to happen, and when the gas was gone, so was the thief. It was no longer than 10 minutes, at most. (BBC News)(THE INDEPENDENT)

Shocking? I think it is, I mean, it really looks like a movie or something! But what’s more surprising is that until today Paul Cezanne’s Auvers-sur-Oise painting hasn’t being founded. It is said that it cost around £3m and that it was robbed so that it can be sold to an art collector. (BBC News)

Hope you like it and found it interesting! Check that not only we can be assaulted during a holiday, but a museum too… Have a nice week and see later! :D

420 words

Stephany Gómez Oropeza
A01280160

REFERENCES.-

BBC News. Hunt for stolen Cezanne. Saturday, 1 de January de 2000. <<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/586834.stm>>

THE INDEPENDENT. Auvers-sur-Oise by Paul Cezanne. Monday, 19 de December de 2005. <<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/a-century-of-art-heists-520068.html>>

Buehrle Collection worst day?

Hello, how are you doing? I hope everything is okey for guys! Now, here it is another post again in Thursday, doing my weekly task but now with a different art heist. Today I’m going to tell you about something kind of similar of the last post, do you remember talked about two masked thieves entering with guns and taking two paintings to a waiting car? Well now I’m going to tell you about something happened in the private Buehrle Collection… where FOUR oil paintings were stolen. Maybe you already know them or maybe not, they were: Cezanne's The Boy in the Red Vest, Degas' Viscount Lepic and His Daughters, Monet's Poppies Near Vetheuil and Van Gogh's Blossoming Chestnut Branches. (TVNZ)

The heist happened during broad daylight, but almost in time for when the museum closes; three masked men entered with their handguns and went to get the paintings from their places. Thankfully there wasn’t any person hurt or killed. Then, each of the rubbers took the paintings to a white car waiting for them. The theft happened a Sunday and the paintings were stolen from the private Buehrle Collection and what’s most incredible, or should I say surprising, is that, as the head of investigations for the Zurich police, Peter Rueegger said: "This is the biggest robbery in Switzerland in an art museum and one of the biggest art robberies in Europe" (Rueegger, TVNZ) And I have to admit he got a point in that, I mean, four paintings in one try! And what’s most, the amount estimated to be paid for the paintings is $160 million US dollars… $160 millions! Can you believe that? (TVNZ)

And that was it guys! Thanks so much for reading today’s post and sorry this time it was shorter than the usual, but well, once in a time is fine. I’ll post next week, so comment until then!! :D

Words: 316

- Stephany Gómez Oropeza (A01280160)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-

TVNZ. “Thieves nab $207 million in art heist.” onenews. 12 de February de 2008. <http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_story_skin/1578908>.

Art heist of Munch's The Scream and Madonna

 

Hi guys! How are you doing? I’d like to apologize since last week I didn’t add a post, but don’t worry! Now I bring more information about another art heist. Now, I think almost everybody know about Edvard Munch’s The Scream painting, the one in the picture in the right.  Now you remember? Nice, but I’ll also tell about other art heist that actually happened at the same date, at the same museum, and at the same corner. Edvard Munch’s Madonna, not the singer we now but the painting, just in case you were wondering about that (the picture in the left). If you find this kind of shocking, then let me warn you that this theft is different than the last ones -Mona Lisa and The Duke of Wellington-. (BBC News)

 How so? Well, first than all, I got to tell you that there are two versions of this theft, one says that the thieves just took the paintings and left a note saying something like “Thanks for the poor security”, and went out to a car that was waiting them. (Iqbal) The other version is the one I’m going to tell you. I trusted more this version because the information I found out about it was from BBC News and CNN and so, that were published either on the same date of the theft or the day after. I’m telling you this so that, if you look for information and you get the other version, or if someone randomly tells you about this story, then you could know the truth, what really happened.

Okey then, moving on, let’s continue with the theft. This theft is different than the last ones because, first, both paintings weren’t simply taken and tucked under the jacket of the person who stole them or so… no, they were taken at gunpoint by the thieves. Both paintings were stolen in Sunday, 22 August 2004, in broad daylight. It seems there were two mask robbers that entered from the cafeteria of the museum and directly went to where the paintings were placed (looks like they already knew about them). There, some witnesses said one man was pointing at them with the gun, as in controlling them, while the other one snatch the paintings off the wall, and finally both got out to a waiting car. The thing here I thought was the most surprising was that the paintings were hung on with nothing else but wires, there wasn’t neither an alarm when taking them, nor there were any guards near the paintings, there weren’t hard security, considering they are kind of cultural treasures.  (BBC News) (CNN)

Jorunn Christofferson, an officer from the museum, said that they were more concern about the visitors than of the theft. You know, even if it looks like an excuse, I think this was a really good decision, because we all know that the paintings can be localized in the future, but lives don’t. But still both paintings were found (thanks to a witness that identified the car that was waiting the thieves), and returned in the same day. The only problem was that the paintings were cut in pieces, like if the thieves were thinking that if they were caught, they at least would have some pieces to sell them. There were no injuries and no shots were fired. (Christofferson) (BBC News)

I hope you all enjoyed it, and sorry that it was really long, but I still think it is a very interesting story. Post you next week… Comments! :D

Words: 592

Stephany Gómez Oropeza 

A01280160

Heist of Goya's portrait of The Duke of Wellington

Hello people!  

Well, as promised here it is another great post about art heists. I hope you’ve read my last two posts, especially the last one because this one has some details similar to Mona Lisa’s theft. For example, and this may be nothing but I thought it is interesting, the Mona Lisa was stolen 100 years ago and Goya's portrait of The Duke of Wellington was stolen 50 years after that and check this out: both of them where actually stolen the same day: August 21^st ! Looks like a taboo date or something… just kidding. Moving on, this The Duke of Wellington theft occurred kind of a similar way as Mona Lisa’s, but instead of slipping it under his coat, the thief took it from the National Gallery and literally climbed through a bathroom’s window and left. As simple as it sounds. (Nairne)

This was a huge shock to the National Gallery since they just paid around $392,000 to an American buyer who wanted to take the painting to the USA, so after the almost lost painting due to this incident and then the actually stolen painting most have being really frustrating for the gallery. But after stealing the painting Kempton Bunton, a retired bus driver and the thief, also asked for an amount of money like the last one, and just said that he wanted that money for charity. (Iqbal)

Can you believe him? Bunton explained in the first of a sequence of posts on August 31^st, that he didn’t wanted to sell the painting, but still he asked around $392,000 not for the painting, but for charity. As for that, he didn’t receive the money, but he still gave Goya’s The Duke of Wellington painting 4 years later, voluntarily. At first the police didn’t knew who the thief was, since Bunton sent a claim ticket to London’s Daily Mirror so that they could pick up the painting, but some weeks later they he offered himself to the police too.  (Listverse) (Iqbal)

And after all the problems the National Gallery had, Kempton Bunton was kept in prison just for some months, and that because he kept refusing to pay his fee. Quite shocking, isn’t it? After having this famous painting stolen and kept by four years, the police only decided to put him in prison for not even a year. But well, that’s how some governments control their problems. (Nairne)

What do you think? Did liked it? I hope you did. So, please look forward for my next post, next week! Thank you all.

Bibliography.-

Iqbal, Nosheen. guardian.co.uk. Thursday 19 de February de 2009.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/19/greatest-art-heists-in-pictures#/?picture=343500666&index=1.

LISTVERSE. Art & Literature. 29 de August de 2007. http://listverse.com/2007/08/29/top-10-art-thefts-of-the-20th-century/.

Sandy, Nairne. guardian.co.uk. Friday 5 August 2011.   http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/aug/05/art-theft-duke-wellington-goya.

Would you believe the famous da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was once stolen? You don't? Well look at this :D

The theft of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911 ranks pretty high of art heists in history. On August 20, 1911, at the Louvre, one of the world’s best-known museums in Paris, an Italian employee of the museum, Vincenzo Perugia, simply slipped the painting under his jacket and walked out of the door.

The painting was discovered missing the next day, yet no one contacted the police. How come? You may ask, but it was actually because the workers at the museum assumed that the painting had been taken to the in-house studio to be photographed for marketing purposes! And still it wasn’t until the next day that the alarm bells went off and the museum immediately called the police. Surprisingly one of the world’s best-known museum like that was cleared of visitors in no time! And later on a thorough search was conducted of the premises. The Mona Lisa was nowhere to be found. The police interviewed as many people as they could who might have any information concerning the lost masterpiece, and so, the theft instantly became an international sensation

On December 10, 1913, Vincenzo, using the alias Leonardo Vincenzo, spoke with art dealer Alfredo Geri at his Florence, Italy, office. Vincenzo told Geri that the Mona Lisa was in his possession and that he wanted to sell it for 500,000 lire. Geri was initially skeptical, yet he decided to view the painting at Vincenzo’s hotel room the next day.

Geri and his friend, Giovanni Poggi, the director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, met with Vincenzo as planned and talked about the painting.  Vincenzo gave Geri and Poggi permission to take the painting to a museum as he waited patiently in his hotel room. After the painting was authenticated, police arrested Vincenzo, who eventually admitted his crime.

He was jailed for just a few months and was hailed a hero by the Italian public. Can you believe it? A hero! For stealing a worldwide most known art piece just because he believed the work should be reclaimed by his country!! But well, despite his efforts, Mona Lisa finally made its way back to the Louvre in 1913! :D

Well my little good children, I hope you did enjoy it because I actually did! :B  Because, I think it’s quite interesting how that easy it was to get such an art work out of a really popular and big museum without being noticed! AND then to hide during 2 years aprox. Don’t you think so? If you’ll like, you can look for more specific information in the web pages from which I took out this data. Well, see you next week! :)

-447 words.

Bibliography.-

Bell, Rachael. truTV. "Sensational Art Heists." http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/outlaws/major_art_thefts/index.html.

Iqbal, Nosheen. guardian.co.uk. Thursday 19 de February de 2009.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/19/greatest-art-heists-in-pictures#/?picture=343500670&index=0

Introducing my blog :)

Hey there! Well people, as you may notice (since this is my first publication), I’m new with all this ‘blog thing’, so please be patient with me. Now, let’s get serious. The main reason I started this blog is because my English teacher asked me to, BUT maybe I’ll keep uploading more stuff when I’m done with my main purpose: finish this project.  Please don’t start getting bored just by knowing this blog is meant for work, because I’ll my best to make it as interesting as I can, hope you’ll enjoy it since the beginning. Finally, getting to the point, what I’m asked to do for the project is to keep posting about a certain topic and will be (rumbling drums)……, ART HEISTS! Cool, right? Well, I’m not going to lie to you, I’m not actually familiarized with the topic, actually I’m almost out of tune in this area, but I’ll keep investigating about it and then I’ll pass my wisdom to you through this blog, so if I’m wrong with some information I post, don’t be afraid of commenting! I’ll love to learn new things, especially if that information actually corrects something I’m mistaken with.

O.K. Now, with my purpose and super explanation of what this is all going to be about, let’s start with the topic. First of all, as the words say, art heist is the act of stealing art, but the most common art stolen have been paintings, so as we may go on with the blog, I’ll tell some of the most impressive art heists there have happened so far. The reason why art heists happen may vary, depending on thieves’ necessities, of course I’m not justifying their acts, but despite that we may not understand why a piece of art is that much important that people really care about it not getting stolen, so that we can get this a little better I’ll give you these information I found out in guardian.co.uk, a U.K . online newspaper that shows about some of the most important art heist till so far… “The Gardner art heist remains the most audacious art theft in history, with works worth up to $500m (£350m) stolen and the mystery still unsolved.” £350m! That’s a huge amount of money, so now you can get why does this kind of things happens. The most audacious theft in history! Amazing. So, next week I’ll post some other interesting thing, I hope you’ll enjoy it!