Stolen Picasso Painting Is Recovered in Amsterdam, Investigator Says

The Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with Pablo Picasso’s “Portrait of Dora Maar” this month in his home in Amsterdam. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Nina Siegal
March 26, 2019

AMSTERDAM — An art crimes investigator in the Netherlands said Tuesday that he had recovered Pablo Picasso’s 1938 painting “Portrait of Dora Maar,” which was stolen from the yacht of its Saudi Arabian owner in the south of France in 1999. Arthur Brand, an independent art detective based in Amsterdam, handed the painting over to an insurance company two weeks ago, he said. Mr. Brand had been trying to track down the Picasso painting since 2015, but all of his leads went nowhere.

Earlier this month, he said, he was contacted by “two persons with good contacts in the underworld,” who said the painting was in the Netherlands. “They told me, ‘It’s in the hands of a businessman who got it as payment, and he doesn’t know what to do with it,’” Mr. Brand said in an interview. “I talked to the two guys and we made a plan to get it out of his hands.”

The two contacts, whom Mr. Brand declined to name, dropped the painting off at Mr. Brand’s house in Amsterdam in two plastic garbage bags, he said. “They delivered it right to my door,” he said. Mr. Brand said they drank a toast to the painting and, after that, he hung the Picasso on his wall. “The urge was too great; I couldn’t resist,” he said. The next day, a Picasso specialist from the Pace Gallery in New York flew to the Netherlands to check the painting, and verified its authenticity, Mr. Brand said. (A spokesman for Pace declined to comment.)

Mr. Brand turned the painting over to a retired British detective, Dick Ellis, the founder of Scotland Yard’s art and antiquities squad, who is now a representative for an insurance company that Mr. Brand declined to name. Mr. Ellis, who did not respond to requests for comment, told Agence France-Presse, “There is no doubt that this is the stolen Picasso.”

The subject of Picasso’s portrait, Dora Maar, was a French photographer, painter, poet and one of the artist’s lovers. He portrayed her in many paintings and drawings. This one, painted in 1938, was apparently one of his favorites, which he kept in his private collection until he died. Mr. Brand said that was part of the reason that it had been difficult to recover. “It was never published, there were almost no pictures of it, and it had never been in a museum,” he said. “Picasso is one of the most stolen artists.”

The owner in 1999 was a Saudi Arabian billionaire, Sheikh Abdul Mohsen, who had it on his luxury yacht at Antibes, France, when it was stolen. Mr. Brand said it probably came into the Netherlands as “payment for drugs or for arms deals.”

Mr. Brand said that he will probably receive no payment for recovering the artwork. “At the time there was a reward offered of 400,000 euros and I don’t know if the reward will be paid,” he said. “If there is a reward, it should go to the people who brought it in. My reward was to have a Picasso on my wall for one night. I can tell you, it was great.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/arts/design/stolen-picasso-dora-maar-amsterdam.html

Thieves Stole a $3.4 Million Brueghel From a Remote Italian Church—or So They Thought. Here’s How the Village Tricked Them

The town's mayor was one of the few people who knew that the real painting was somewhere safe but locals had their suspicions something was up. Nan Stewert, March 13, 2019

The Crucifixion by Pieter Brueghel the Younger was lifted from a church in northern Italy on Wednesday. The Crucifixion by Pieter Brueghel the Younger that thieves tried to lift from a church in northern Italy on Wednesday. An audacious group of robbers made off with a prized 17th-century painting by Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger from a Church in Northern Italy on Wednesday—or so they thought.

After a tip-off, Italian police covertly switched the Crucifixion for a copy in the church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Castelnuovo Magra, about an hour and a half’s drive from Genoa. The mayor of the small town of around 8,500 residents was in on the secret and a few vigilant members of the congregation, who noticed the picture looked out of place, are reported to have kept silent.

Using a hammer to break the case, the thieves lifted the worthless copy picture and made off in Peugeot car. Police believe two people were involved in the attempted heist. The town’s mayor, Daniele Montebello, originally stuck to the story that the real painting had been stolen but on Wednesday he revealed that after rumors began circulating that someone could steal the work, the police decided to put it in a safe place, replacing it with a copy and installing some cameras. Montebello told the Guardian: “I thank the police but also some of the churchgoers, who noticed that the painting on display wasn’t the original but kept up the secret.”

Among other artworks housed in the church are sculptures fashioned from Carrara marble, a material made famous by Michelangelo. The targeted painting, which shows the Crucifixion from above, is similar in composition to another work by Brueghel (1564–1636) that belongs to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That picture, which is thought to be from around 1617, may be based on a work done by the artist’s father, Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525–1569).

The younger Brueghel’s auction record stands at $10.7 million, set at Christie’s in 2011 for The Battle Between Carnival and Lent. According to the Guardian, art crime has fallen in Italy from a reported 906 incidents in 2011 to 449 in 2016. But the country remains a popular destination for thieves because of its rich cultural heritage and plethora of churches filled with art that remain open free and open to the public.

UPDATE, March 14: This story has been updated to include new details that emerged about the police replacing the original work with a copy.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pieter-brueghel-theft-1487668?utm_content=from_&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=US%209%3A53%20a.m.%20newsletter%20for%203%2F14%2F19&utm_term=New%20US%20Newsletter%20List

Algeria museum vandalised during protests: ministry

ALGIERS- The National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts was vandalized Friday by a group of offenders who stole a number of valuables objects after having burned the administrative premises, which led to the destruction of documents and records, the Ministry of Culture said.http://www.aps.dz/en/algeria/28276-national-museum-of-antiquities-and-islamic-arts-vandalized

ALGIERS (AFP).- Algeria's oldest museum, home to some of the country's most valuable art, was vandalised during protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term, the culture ministry said Saturday. "Criminals" took advantage of thousands-strong demonstrations on Friday to break into the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts in Algiers, founded in 1897, the ministry said in a statement. "Part of the museum was ransacked, objects stolen and administrative offices burned, as well as documents and records being destroyed," the ministry said.

Firefighters arrived promptly and prevented the blaze from spreading, while police had managed to retrieve a sabre dating from the time of the Algerian resistance to the French conquest of Algeria in the early 19th century, it said. Tens of thousands protested across Algeria on Friday in the biggest rallies yet against ailing Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term in April polls. The police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse those who tried to force their way through a police cordon, but most demonstrators dispersed calmly as darkness fell.

The ministry called the acts at the museum "a crime against a historical heritage that covers several important stages of Algerian popular history". Founded during the French occupation of Algeria, which lasted from 1830 to 1962, the museum is one of the oldest in Africa and covers over 2,500 years of history and art.

Police had not yet identified those responsible, the ministry said, adding that security had been reinforced Saturday and that "criminals" had already attempted to enter the site during a previous protest on March 1. The museum lies at a major crossroads close to the presidential palace in Algiers. The junction was the scene of clashes Friday between young protesters and police, while demonstrations elsewhere in the city passed off in relative calm.

© Agence France-Presse

http://artdaily.com/news/111915/Algeria-museum-vandalised-during-protests--ministry#.XIZ-syhKiUk