Early Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum

Vincent van Gogh’s "The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring" (1884). The painting was stolen overnight on Monday, March 30, 2020, from a small museum in Laren in the Netherlands, just 20 miles southeast of Amsterdam, on what would have been the artist’s 167th birthday. Groninger Museum via The New York Times.

BERLIN (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- A Vincent van Gogh painting was stolen early Monday from a small museum in Laren in the Netherlands, just 20 miles southeast of Amsterdam, on what would have been the artist’s 167th birthday.

“I feel enormous anger and sadness,” Jan Rudolph de Lorm, the museum’s director, said. “Because especially in these dark days that we are in, I feel so strongly that art is here to comfort us, to inspire us and to heal us.”

Police were called to the Singer Laren museum at 3:15 a.m. Monday, when an alarm went off. By the time they got there, the thief or thieves were already gone, said a spokeswoman for the Dutch police.

All police found was a shattered glass door and a bare spot on the wall where the painting was displayed. Hours later, authorities announced that the work, “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring,” was taken.

The heist comes as museums in much of Europe and the United States are closed in attempts to stem the spread of the coronavirus. It also comes eight years after a spectacular breach at a museum in Rotterdam, where thieves made off with seven paintings valued at more than 100 million euros (about $110 million) by forcing an emergency exit, exposing the relatively weak security systems at some art museums.

Coronavirus or not, guards are not usually posted at the museum overnight. The alarm system is linked straight to the local police.

“They knew what they were doing, going straight for the famous master,” de Lorm said. Police agreed that it would have taken minutes from the time of forced entry to leaving the premises.

The painting was on loan from the Gröninger Museum for a special exhibition, “Mirror of the Soul,” which was to run from January to May. “It’s an early picture, before Arles and before Paris, so it is darker and less recognizable as a van Gogh,” said Andreas Blühm, director of the Gröninger.

Because of the coronavirus outbreak, museums in the Netherlands closed March 13, and the Singer Laren had announced it would be closed until at least June 1.

© 2020 The New York Times Company

https://artdaily.cc/news/122208/Early-Van-Gogh-painting-stolen-from-Dutch-museum

Thieves Were Caught Attempting to Steal Medieval Stones From Notre-Dame Cathedral During Paris’s Citywide Lockdown

Two men were taken into custody after attempting to heist stones to sell the black market, according to a spokesperson for the cathedral.

A photograph taken on December 26, 2019, shows a giant crane outside the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was partially destroyed when fire broke out beneath the roof on April 15, 2019. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP) (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Since the devastating fire that nearly leveled Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral last April, the iconic French landmark has been undergoing an unprecedented restoration. But intensifying quarantine measures in France have halted those recovery efforts indefinitely last week—and two would-be thieves attempted to take advantage of the situation.

The thieves allegedly broke into the construction site and attempted to sack several fallen stones from inside the cathedral. According to Le Parisien, which first reported the news, the two men were apprehended by guards who spotted them in the early evening on March 17. A spokesperson for Notre Dame says it is believed that the men intended to sell the stones illicitly on the black market and that they had likely broken in through a fault in the construction site.

The construction site remains guarded 24 hours a day despite the construction pause.

Notre Dame is devoid of tourists, two women stand outside the emblematic monument on March 9, 2020 in Paris. Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images.

The recent halt in construction will likely put a dent in the five-year timeline for restoration established by French Prime minister Emmanuel Macron—a timeline many experts already found hasty. Meanwhile, the delicate process of removing melted scaffolding, which has threatened the stability of the building since the blaze, was scheduled to begin on March 23, adding further concerns to the future of the continuously imperiled edifice. Reconstruction efforts were previously stalled when the cathedral’s debris was found to be giving off dangerous levels of toxic lead pollution.

Nevertheless, the eight months of restoration thus far have been eye-opening both to scientists and historians with new insights about the process of the cathedral’s construction from the 12th to 14th century, and the discovery of remnants of earlier church structure incorporated into the overarching plan, according to a recent article by Science magazine.

The hiatus at Notre Dame is just one of the many measures taken to protect public health in France, including the closure of all museums and limiting gatherings to 100 people.

Katie White, March 23, 2020

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/thieves-plunder-notre-dame-stones-renovation-pause-1812831

Three Paintings, Including a Major Van Dyck, Stolen from Oxford University Gallery

Antony Van Dyck, 'A Soldier on Horseback', ca. 1616. COURTESY CHRIST CHURCH PICTURE GALLERY

Over the weekend, three paintings, including a significant work by the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck, were stolen from a gallery at Oxford University’s Christ Church college, in what local police are calling a “high-value burglary.”

Van Dyck’s A Soldier on Horseback (1616), Salvator Rosa’s A Rocky Coast, with Soldiers Studying a Plan (1640s), and Annibale Carracci’s A Boy Drinking (1580) were taken from the Christ Church Picture Gallery late Saturday night. A report by the Times estimated that the works pilfered from the British museum could be worth an estimated £10 million (or about $12.2 million).

Inspector Jon Capps, of the Thames Valley Police, said in a statement, “The artwork has not yet been recovered but a thorough investigation is under way to find it and bring those responsible to justice. There will be an increased police presence in the area while officers and staff carry out enquiries.” Police are currently appealing for any information from the public on the break-in, and officials have not yet provided an explanation for how the thieves entered the museum and how the works were taken.

A Christ Church college spokesperson told the Guardian that the gallery will be closed until further notice.

The paintings by Carracci and Van Dyck were among a bequest of General John Guise in 1765 of more than 200 paintings and nearly 2,000 drawings to Oxford University. Rosa’s A Rocky Coast was bequeathed by Sir Richard Nosworthy in 1966. Van Dyck’s current auction record stands at $13.5 million, for a self-portrait sold at Sotheby’s London auction house in 2009.

BY TESSA SOLOMON, March 16, 2020 2:47pm
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/van-dyck-stolen-christ-church-oxford-1202681215/

Gardner Museum launches audio walk detailing infamous Museum theft and thirteen stolen artworks

In this Thursday, March 11, 2010 file photo, empty frames from which thieves took "Storm on the Sea of Galilee," left background, by Rembrandt and "The Concert," right foreground, by Vermeer, remain on display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

BOSTON, MASS.- Marking the 30th anniversary of the infamous Gardner Museum theft, the Gardner Museum announced a new audio walk detailing the theft and honoring the thirteen stolen artworks, available to visitors onsite and via the Museum’s mobile-friendly website beginning March 4, 2020.

In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves disguised as Boston police officers entered the Museum and left with thirteen works of art including Vermeer’s The Concert, Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee and A Lady and Gentleman in Black, Manet’s Chez Tortoni, and Edgar Degas’ Leaving the Paddock. The theft of more than $500 million worth of artwork remains the largest unsolved art heist in history. Today, the stolen artworks are remembered in the Museum’s galleries by their empty frames, which hang in their original locations on the gallery walls.

Now, visitors to the Gardner Museum will be able to recount the theft in a newly released audio walk narrated by Anthony Amore, the Museum’s Director of Security, and Nathaniel Silver, William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Collection. The new audio walk is the most comprehensive and official account of the theft provided by the Museum, including an immersive retracing of the thieves' path throughout the Museum’s galleries that night, and detailing the thirteen missing works of art and their importance—considered amongst the most valuable stolen objects in the world.

“This was a horrific robbery. A robbery that deprived not just the Gardner Museum—but more importantly the public—of some of the greatest masterpieces in the world,” said Amore. “Our hope is that the audio walk will not only help visitors learn more about the Gardner Museum theft, but also appreciate and come to know more about these incredible missing works of art that we're still working to recover.”

Among the works taken that night included Rembrandt’s only seascape; and one of only 36 known paintings made by Vermeer.

The Dutch Room. Image by Sean Dungan.

Dutch Room PDF Full Artwork Listing: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/sites/default/files/uploads/files/Dutch%20Room%20Guide.pdf

Throughout the audio walk, Amore shares insights into the thieves’ thinking and decisions made as they moved through the Museum during the theft’s 81 minutes. Curator Nathaniel Silver details not only the beauty and importance of the missing artworks, but also a look into Isabella Stewart Gardner’s deliberate choices of installation in the gallery spaces, and the “visual conversations” she created between works of art throughout the Museum.

“Our intention is always to keep present the memory and images of these masterworks until we can celebrate their return. This audio walk helps visitors to imagine what’s no longer there, and in doing so evokes Isabella’s original intention for these galleries,” said Silver. “We mourn the losses from the theft with the empty places left on the wall—but Isabella’s vision persists, in the more than sixteen thousand objects still in the collection, the galleries she installed them in, and the museum she created to house them.”

The audio walk will be available to stream for free via mobile phones, and handheld audio walk devices are available for rental at the Museum for $5.

The search for the missing works remains part of an active and ongoing investigation, and the Gardner Museum is offering at $10 million reward for information that leads directly to the recovery of all the stolen works in good condition. Find more information about the reward, the audio walk, and other resources about the theft, at: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/about/theft.

“We want everyone to know what these works look like because although they are gone—for now—they are not forgotten,” said Amore. “We look forward to the day when they can take their rightful place again so that our visitors can enjoy them in person.

https://artdaily.cc/news/121453/Gardner-Museum-launches-audio-walk-detailing-infamous-Museum-theft-and-thirteen-stolen-artworks#.XmJtv6hKiUk

Norway authorises demolition of building with Picasso murals

People pass Picasso's mural art work "The Fisherman" on the government quarter's 'Y building' in Oslo, Norway on August 6, 2013. AFP PHOTO / ODD ANDERSEN.

OSLO (AFP).- Norway gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for the demolition of a bomb-damaged building adorned with drawings by Spanish master painter Pablo Picasso. The government, which ruled out a further postponement to the 2014 decision to demolish the building, has said it would relocate the two Picasso murals.

Completed in 1969 in the centre of Oslo, the "Y block", named for its shape, bears drawings by Picasso sandblasted on its walls - the work of Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar, who collaborated with the Spanish master painter.

Previously the home of a government ministry, the building was damaged in the deadly bomb attack carried out by right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik on 22 July 2011, before he went on to carry out a mass shooting on the island of Utoya, killing a combined 77 people.

In 2014, Norway decided to demolish the building for security reasons as part of a major reconstruction project, and decided to relocate the murals "The Fishermen" and "The Seagull." Anther building, "H block", which was also damaged in the blast and has three other Picasso murals, will not be destroyed.

The 2014 decision to knock down "Y block" provoked a backlash among champions of architectural heritage and the ensuing public outcry saw a delay to the demolition. Three organisations and associations announced on February 13 their intention to take the state to court and asked the government to postpone the demolition until the court had ruled on the matter.

On Wednesday, the government rejected this request, arguing that further delays would lead to financial cost as well as the postponement of the reconstruction project which has already been decided. The ministry of local government and modernisation said in a statement that the agency in charge of managing the state's real estate assets, Statsbygg, had been given the "assignment to start preparation work for the demolition of the Y block."

No starting date has been set, but postponing the implementation of the measure beyond April 1 would cost between 30 and 50 million Norwegian kroner ($3.2 million to 5.3 million or 2.9 million to 4.9 million euros) per month, according to Statsbygg. A petition launched a year ago to stop the demolition of "Y block" had gathered nearly 28,000 signatures by midday on Wednesday.

© Agence France-Presse
https://artdaily.cc/news/121292/Norway-authorises-demolition-of-building-with-Picasso-murals#.Xlk0cahKiUk

Berlin court jails three over 100-kg gold coin heist

One of the defendants, Wissam R., hides his face behind a folder as he arrives for the opening of the trial over the theft of the so-called "Big Maple Leaf" golden coin from the Bode-Museum last year on January 10, 2019 at a court in Berlin. Three men linked to a notorious Berlin crime family face court from January 10, 2019, over the spectacular theft of the giant 100-kilogramme (220-pound) commemorative gold coin worth 3.75 million euros ($4.3 million). Odd ANDERSEN / AFP.

BERLIN (AFP).- A Berlin court sentenced three men to multi-year jail sentences on Thursday for the spectacular theft of a 100-kilogram (220-lb) gold coin from one of the German capital's museums.

State court judges jailed two men aged 23 and 21, who belong to a family of Arab origin notorious for ties to organised crime, for four years and six months each. A 21-year-old security guard at the museum received a sentence of three years and four months, while a fourth defendant was cleared of all charges.

Police have found no trace of the 100-kilogram (220-pound) Canadian coin since the late-night heist in March 2017 from the Bode Museum, located close to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Berlin apartment.

The "Big Maple Leaf", one of five minted in 2007, is considered the world's second-largest gold coin after the one-tonne Australian Kangaroo issued in 2012.

Prosecutors assume the nearly pure-gold treasure, which bears a profile image of Queen Elizabeth II, was either cut up, melted down or taken abroad.

The coin has a notional value of one million Canadian dollars ($750,000), but the gold itself is worth considerably more.

Police raids in July 2017 on premises in and around Berlin linked to the perpetrators' Remmo "clan" saw guns, luxury cars and more than 100,000 euros in cash confiscated. Investigators also used phone taps and GPS devices to track cars and searched more than 50 properties, the defence said at the trial.

Security camera footage of the heist shows three men wearing dark hoodies, scarves and baseball caps making their way to the museum. They broke in through a window, smashed a glass case with an axe and used a rope, wooden beam and a wheelbarrow to lift the coin onto adjacent elevated urban railway tracks before transferring to a car, said prosecutor Martina Lamb.

The Remmo family, whose patriarchs fled war-torn Lebanon in the 1980s, are considered to be one of Berlin's most notorious organised crime clans. Police last year targeted the Remmos with the seizure of 77 properties worth a total of 9.3 million euros, charging that they were purchased with the proceeds of various crimes, including a 2014 bank robbery.

In recent years, so-called "clans" of primarily Middle Eastern origin have become a particular focus for police, politics and media in Berlin. A popular fictional TV series, "4 Blocks", has even focused on a crime family in the capital's Neukoelln district.

© Agence France-Presse
https://artdaily.cc/news/121129/Berlin-court-jails-three-over-100-kg-gold-coin-heist#.Xk_2wShKiUk

Egypt court jails ex- Italian diplomat for smuggling artefacts

Gilded Coffin Lid for the Priest Nedjemankh (detail) Late Ptolemaic Period (150–50 B.C.) Cartonnage, gold, silver, resin, glass, wood The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, 2017 Benefit Fund; Lila Acheson Wallace Gift; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; Leona Sobel Education and The Camille M. Lownds Funds; and 2016 Benefit Fund, 2017 (2017.255b) Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

CAIRO (AFP).- A Cairo criminal court sentenced a former honorary Italian consul to 15 years in jail in absentia on Tuesday for smuggling antiquities out of the country, a judicial source said.

Ladislav Otakar Skakal, Italy's former honorary consul in Luxor, attempted to smuggle 21,855 artefacts from various historical eras in 2017, according to the prosecutor general. These included over 21,000 golden coins, 151 miniature figurines, five mummy masks, 11 pottery vessels, three ceramic tiles dating to the Islamic period and a wooden sarcophagus.

Italian police found the sizeable loot in a diplomatic shipping container heading from the port city of Alexandria to Salerno in Italy in 2017.

Skakal's trial, along with other accomplices, began in September last year. Prosecutors found that the antiquities were smuggled with the aid of Raouf Ghali, the brother of former Hosni Mubarak-era finance minister Youssef Ghali. A verdict is expected next month for Skakal's alleged Egyptian accomplices.

Egypt managed to retrieve the stolen antiquities in cooperation with Italian authorities in 2018. It also requested that Interpol issue a red notice against the disgraced diplomat.

Last year, a stolen golden coffin of a Pharaonic priest was unveiled in Cairo after authorities managed to retrieve it from New York.

Antiquities smuggling had thrived in the tumult that followed the 2011 revolution that toppled Mubarak.

In recent years, Egypt has sought to promote its archaeological heritage in a bid to revive its vital tourism sector, which has taken a battering from political turmoil after the revolution.

© Agence France-Presse
https://artdaily.cc/news/120309/Egypt-court-jails-ex--Italian-diplomat-for-smuggling-artefacts#.Xjwr5WhKiUk