Theft of paintings: demand creates supply. The most notorious thefts of works of art "Christ during a storm on the Sea of ​​​​Galilee", Rembrandt

There it was seen by representatives of the Nosenko family, which previously owned the painting. Soviet Rear Admiral Ivan Nosenko bought "Evening in Cairo" for his collection in the late 1940s. The painting was then passed down from generation to generation until, in 1997, the painting was stolen from the family's apartment in Moscow. When representatives of the Nosenko family saw a photograph of the painting “Evening in Cairo” on the Sotheby’s auction website, they announced that this particular painting had been stolen almost 20 years ago.

As a result, representatives of the Sotheby's auction house removed the painting from sale.

It turned out that Aivazovsky’s painting was put up for auction by its British owner, who bought the painting with all the accompanying documentation in Europe back in 2000. And I didn’t even suspect that it was stolen.

The painting "Evening in Cairo" was painted by Ivan Aivazovsky in 1870, when he attended the opening of the Suez Canal. Until the early 40s of the 20th century, it was in the collection of a certain collector Dedov, and then came to the then People's Commissar of Water Transport Ivan Nosenko.

Interestingly, more than 180 thousand works are registered in the database of Interpaol and the company The Art Loss Register, which are involved in the search for missing and stolen works of art. Among them are 572 (!!!) works by Pablo Picasso, 169 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and 16 by Caravaggio. Here are just some of the most famous works world art related to thefts and robberies.

JAN VERMEER "CONCERT"

On March 18, 1990, the most notorious art theft in history occurred. From the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, robbers who entered the building under the guise of police officers took thirteen paintings, among which was “The Concert” by Johannes Vermeer, one of the most famous masters XVII century. The painting, created in 1664, depicts a couple of women and a man playing music in a dimly lit living room.

Back in 1892, Parisian art critic Théophile Thor sold the painting at auction at his estate to the famous philanthropist Isabella Gardner. This is how the “Concert” ended up in her personal museum, where it has been exhibited since 1903. “The Concert” is generally considered the most expensive lost painting in the world - its price is about 200 million dollars. A reward of $5 million is promised to anyone who returns the paintings in value and safety.

REMBRANDT "STORM ON THE SEA OF GALILE"

Along with the “Concert” by Johannes Vermeer, this painting also disappeared from the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. The painting is notable because it was the only seascape painted by Rembrandt. "The Storm" depicted Christ's miracle when he calmed the Sea of ​​Galilee.

In March 2013, the FBI convened a special press conference where it was announced that the names of the perpetrators would be revealed. Criminal analysis showed that the paintings were stolen by organized organization, and not local singles, as previously thought.

However, the authorities said that the investigation into the case is still ongoing, so it is too early to name names. Since then, no new information has been received about the fate of the paintings.

JAN VAN EYCK "FAIR JUDGES".

This crime dates back to April 10, 1934 - at an exhibition held in the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent, Belgium, Jan van Eyck’s painting “Fair Judges” was stolen. This painting itself was only part of the altar painting “Adoration of the Lamb,” created back in 1426-1432. Only one part of the 12 panels was stolen, and the robbers left a note. On French it was written that the painting was taken from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.

For seven whole months, the Belgian government communicated through letters with a certain person who claimed that he had the painting and demanded a ransom. The thief was identified on November 25; he turned out to be a local eccentric politician, Arsene Godertier. Already dying, he declared that only he knew where the painting was, but he would take this secret with him to the grave. Since then, many versions have appeared about the whereabouts of the painting. And although many are inclined to believe that it was destroyed, it is still officially listed on the list of missing works of art.

MICHELANGELO CARAVAGGIO "CHRISTMAS WITH ST. FRANCIS AND ST. LAURENTIUM"

An almost three-meter-long painting by Caravaggio was stolen in 1969 from the Chapel of San Lorenzo in Palermo. The robbers treated the painting barbarously: in order to remove it from the gilded frame, they used a razor.

Picture not found.

CLAUDE MONET "CHARING CROSS BRIDGE, LONDON".

The painting, created in 1901, was located in Rotterdam and was stolen from the Kunsthal museum in October 2012.

One of the captured intruders claimed that he burned the Monet painting, along with other stolen paintings, in his mother's oven. This is how the thief tried to hide the evidence. And although some pigments were indeed found in the oven, there is no significant evidence of the words of the criminal and the destruction of the painting.

VINCENT VAN GOGH "LOVERS: THE POET'S GARDEN IV"

In the late 1930s, on Hitler's orders, many “depraved” works of art were confiscated from many private collections and museums. Among them was Van Gogh’s painting “Lovers: The Garden of the Poet IV.” In fact, Hitler wanted to create his own art collection, the largest in the world. Those same “depraved” works were intended for her. However, after the end of World War II, Van Gogh's masterpiece was never discovered. Therefore, only a black and white photograph of the painting has survived to this day.

VINCENT VAN GOGH "VIEW OF THE SEA NEAR SCHEVENINGEN"

This painting was stolen in 2002 from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam the old fashioned way. No one broke into the museum in broad daylight and threatened the terrified caretakers with weapons. The criminals entered the building at night by climbing up a ladder to the second floor and breaking a window. In 2004, two people were arrested on theft charges.

They were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison, but the painting was never found.

VINCENT VAN GOGH "EXIT OF THE PROCESSION FROM THE REFORMED CHURCH IN NUENEN."

This painting was also stolen in 2002 from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

PABLO PICASSO “DOVE WITH GREEN PEAS”.

This theft turned out to be quite strange. The incident occurred on May 20, 2010 in Paris, at approximately 7 o'clock in the morning. From the local Museum contemporary art Five paintings worth a total of 100 million euros were stolen. One of them was Picasso’s masterpiece “Dove with Green Peas,” created in 1911. The thief was convicted in 2011. But he said that after the theft he fell into a panic and simply threw the paintings in the trash. The story is questionable, and the paintings are still considered missing.

PAUL GAUGIN "GIRL AT AN OPEN WINDOW"

The crime was committed in 2012 at the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, Holland. In just three minutes, they rushed through the museum, took seven paintings and left. The police who arrived at the scene just threw up their hands.

The approximate value of the stolen masterpieces is 18 million euros. But already in November one of the thieves was arrested, but the paintings remained unfound.

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR "CONVERSATION WITH A GARDENER"

In 2000, the National Museum in Stockholm was robbed: three men, one of whom threatened a security guard with a machine gun, stole several paintings, including a Renoir painting, and fled. "Conversation with the Gardener" was unexpectedly discovered during a drug bust in 2005.

HENRI MATISS "THE GARDEN OF LUXEMBOURG"

"The Garden of Luxembourg" by Henri Matisse was one of the paintings stolen from a museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On February 24, 2006, while the entire city was relaxing during the annual Carnival, four armed men robbed the museum and made off with the works of such famous artists, like Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. The paintings have not yet been found.

EDWARD MUNK "SCREAM"

On August 22, 2004, masked gunmen entered the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway in broad daylight and stole two paintings by Edvard Munch, The Scream and Madonna. The masterpieces were found by police in 2006. "Scream" is the most famous painting artist and one of the most recognizable in the world. Its cost is $82 million.

EIGHT IMPERIAL FABERGE EGGS.

In the collection of Imperial Eggs, created by the jeweler Peter Carl Faberge, there were 52 eggs - the number of weeks in a year. In 1918, the collection was looted. Over time, some of them ended up in the hands of private collectors, others ended up in various museums around the world. The fate of eight such products remained unknown.

LEONARDO DA VINCI "MONA LISA"

On August 21, 1911, this masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci was stolen from the Louvre - as it turned out a little later, the painting was stolen by the museum worker Peruggia, who simply removed the painting from the wall that day when the museum was closed and left the building, hiding the canvas under his clothes. For two years, photographs of the "Mona Lisa" were published in all newspapers in Europe, and this portrait became the most famous painting in the world. The portrait returned to the Louvre two years later.

Over the years greatest artists, sculptors and craftsmen worked to create the iconic works of art that we are all familiar with. While many of these masterpieces remain safely tucked away in museums or private collections, others are not so lucky. Below are ten stolen works of art that remain lost somewhere in the world.

10. Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius

For a musician, owning a Stradivarius violin is tantamount to touching the Holy Grail. By reputation, no instrument can compare to the rich sound quality produced by Stradivarius. They even boast the ability to withstand centuries of wear and tear if cared for properly. It is believed that only about 650 original Stradivarius have survived to this day. Along with violins, instruments made by Stradivarius include cellos, violas, guitars, harps and mandolins. The instruments' current locations range from private collections to the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and the Stradivarius Museum in Cremona, Italy.

In October 1995, a 1727 Stradivarius violin worth three million dollars was stolen from the New York apartment of renowned violinist Erica Morini. Morini, who was 91, died shortly after the robbery. The theft remains one of the FBI's top 10 art crimes and the instrument is still listed as lost.

9. View Of The Sea At Scheveningen, Vincent Van Gogh

On December 7, 2002, at approximately 8:00 am, two men climbed onto the roof of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and made their way into the building. The thieves took only two paintings: “View of the sea near Scheveningen” and “Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen”. Both paintings were painted between 1882 and 1884. This period is considered the peak artistic achievements Van Gogh and the total value of these paintings is estimated to be about $30 million.

According to the museum's gallery page, "Van Gogh painted this painting in Scheveningen, a beach resort near The Hague. He had to contend with weather conditions: gusty winds and flying sand that stuck to the liquid paint. Most of the sand was later brushed off, but a few grains can still be found in some of the paint layers." Two suspects were arrested in 2004 and later sentenced to four and a half years in prison, but the paintings remain unfound. The museum is currently offering a €100,000 reward for information about their whereabouts.

8. “Dove with Green Peas” (Le Pigeon Aux Petits Pois), Pablo Picasso (Pablo Picasso)


One of the strangest art thefts in history took place on May 20, 2010 in Paris, France at approximately 7:00 am. Pablo Picasso's 1911 masterpiece, Dove with Green Peas, was one of five paintings estimated to be worth a total of around €100 million. These paintings were stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern Art (Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris). Only one broken window and a broken lock were found at the crime scene. The thief was dexterous enough to carefully and quickly remove the paintings from their frames, rather than using a knife to cut them out. CCTV footage showed the theft was the work of one man rather than a group of thieves. A man believed to be a lone thief was found and convicted in 2011. He subsequently claimed that he panicked and threw the paintings in the trash shortly after they were stolen. Many people have expressed doubts about the veracity of the thief's story and to this day the paintings still remain unfound.

7. “Girl at the Open Window” (Femme Devant Une Fenêtre Ouverte, Dite La Fiancée), Paul Gauguin


In October 2012, Paul Gauguin's 1888 masterpiece entitled "Girl at an Open Window" was stolen from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, South Holland, along with six other paintings by artists such as Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. ), Henri Matisse, and Lucian Freud. The theft took place at approximately 3:00 am. It took the thieves only three minutes to break into the museum, collect seven paintings and leave before law enforcement arrived. The estimated value of the stolen works is about 18 million euros. On November 26, a man named Radu Dogaru was arrested for theft and ultimately sentenced to almost seven years in prison. The second thief, Adrian Procop, was arrested in Berlin on December 6th. All paintings, including Gauguin's, are still considered missing.

6. “The Concert”, Johannes Vermeer


Dutch master Jan Vermeer remains one of the most famous artists of the 17th century. Most of his remaining paintings are in museums or the Royal Collection in London. His painting entitled "The Concert", painted in 1664, depicts two women and one man playing music in a dimly lit living room. In 1892, the famous philanthropist Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased the painting at auction at the estate of the Parisian art critic Théophile Thoré, and the work was exhibited at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1903. However, on March 18, 1990, several robbers dressed as Boston police officers arrived at the museum, claiming that they were responding to a call. Once inside, the pair stole a total of 13 paintings, including The Concert and works by Govaert Flinck, Degas and Rembrandt. On at the moment The Concerto is considered the most valuable lost work in the world and is valued at over $200,000,000.

5. The Just Judges, Jan Van Eyck


On the night of April 10, 1934, a painting by Jan van Eyck entitled "The Judges" was stolen from an exhibition at Saint Bavon's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, where it was part of an altarpiece painting "The Adoration of the Lamb" created by between 1426 and 1432. "The Judges," the only part of the 12-panel altarpiece that was stolen, was replaced with a note that read in French: "Taken from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles." For seven months after the theft, the Belgian government and the man claiming to be the thief exchanged several ransom notes and letters. And on November 25, the alleged thief, who turned out to be an eccentric local politician named Arsène Goedertier, revealed with his last breath that only he knew where the painting was hidden, and that he would take this secret with him to the grave. It has since been suggested that the painting was destroyed, but it is still officially listed as missing works of art.

4. “Storm Of The Sea Of Galilee” by Rembrandt Van Rijn


In the same theft that saw the disappearance of Johannes Vermeer's painting "The Concert" from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, famous masterpiece Rembrandt entitled "Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee". Artwork was the only one seascape Rembrandt, and depicted the miracle of Jesus calming the Sea of ​​Galilee as described in the Gospel of Mark. This robbery is considered the largest art heist in America to date. On March 18, 2013, the FBI held a press conference at which agents stated that they knew who was responsible for the crime. Through criminal analysis, it was determined that the theft was the work of an organized crime group rather than a single petty crook, but they also said they could not reveal its name as the investigation into the case was ongoing. Since then, no new public statements have been made regarding this case.

More than 23 years have passed since the theft, but the investigation is still considered open and a reward of $5 million is currently being offered for information on the whereabouts of the painting(s).

3. Charing Cross Bridge, London, Claude Monet


The famous impressionist Claude Monet depicted Charing Cross Bridge in London as part of a series of paintings painted between 1899 and 1904. The series depicts various options bridge in different periods day and night, which allowed Monet to use his extensive understanding of the color palette. The 1901 painting, located in Rotterdam and known simply as Charing Cross Bridge, London, was stolen in a theft at the Kunsthal museum in October 2012. One of the men convicted of the crime claimed that the Monet (along with other stolen works) was burned in his mother's oven to hide evidence of the theft from government officials. Although some traces of pigment were indeed found in the stove, no conclusive evidence was found to support his claim, and the painting is still listed as missing.

2. Eight Imperial Fabergé Eggs


Collections of Imperial Faberge Eggs Alexandra III and Nicholas II may actually have been more popular than the tsars themselves. Peter Carl Fabergé of the House of Faberge created masterpieces from eggs decorated precious stones for the Russian royal family between 1885 and 1917. The collection consists of 52 famous imperial eggs, complete with exquisite jewelry, precious metal parts and intricate winding cogs and gears. In 1918, the Bolsheviks plundered the House of Faberge and the Tsar's Palace in St. Petersburg. The eggs were confiscated and sent to the Kremlin. Some eggs were subsequently sold to private collectors, some were stolen, and some remained in museums around the world. Currently, eight eggs are still missing from the Bolshevik theft. Each egg is valued at over a million dollars and rumors of their whereabouts have spread throughout Europe. South America and the United States.

1. The Lovers: The Poet's Garden IV, Vincent Van Gogh

On October 21, 1888, Vincent Van Gogh wrote the following to his brother Theo: “Here is a very vague sketch of my last canvas, a row of green cypress trees against a pink sky with a pale lemon crescent. Foreground consists of fuzzy soil and sand and a few thistles. Two lovers, a man in a pale blue and yellow hat, a woman in a pink bodice and black skirt.” He wrote this about The Lovers: The Poet's Garden IV, which was completed that same year. In the second half of the 1930s, on the orders of Adolf Hitler, many “depraved” works of art were stolen from private collections and museums, among which was Van Gogh’s painting “The Lovers: The Garden of the Poet IV.” Hitler planned to create the most large collection art in the world and his ideal collection included the “depraved works” of artists of the previous century. Despite the efforts of the "Monuments Men", a group of American military personnel tasked with collecting and protecting cultural values in war-torn Europe, the painting disappeared after World War II and has never been found.

Surprising as it may seem, the fact of the theft of works of art directly from a museum is not a plot from an old film or a classic detective story. Unfortunately, this is the reality of today: half most valuable stolen paintings were stolen at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st centuries. Despite increased security, surveillance cameras and alarms, criminal talents still manage to accomplish similar “feats” today. Our review includes the most expensive paintings that were stolen and have not yet been found.

top 10 most expensive paintings in the world.

The owner of the estate, Baronet Sir Alfred Beit, one of the owners of the De Beers diamond firm, owns one of the world's best private collections of paintings by old masters.
The first theft was April 1974. A five-man armed Irish Republican Army gang broke into Beith's house. The gang was led by Bridget-Rose Dugdale, the daughter of the director of the Lloyd's insurance company and a friend of the Bate family. The raiders tied up the Beit couple and all the servants, and then placed 19 paintings in the truck, including the most valuable one - “A Lady with a Maid, writing a letter"Vermera. A few months later, Dugdale was taken along with the paintings in an abandoned cottage. During arrest, she offered armed resistance and received nine years in prison. After imprisonment, she changed her name and now works as a teacher.
Second theft - May 1986. At two o'clock in the morning the alarm went off. The watchman called the police, they walked around the building from all sides, but did not notice anything. Only the next morning they discovered that 18 paintings were missing: again including Vermeer, Goya, two Rubens and Gainsborough. The robbery was carried out by the gang of Martin Cahill, nicknamed the General. The criminals deliberately caused the alarm to go off. They then watched the police search the building and entered the house in the short period of time between the end of the search and the alarm going off again. The police soon found 7 paintings along with an abandoned car, the remaining 11 went into the “looking glass” of the criminal world and were found many years later.
Third theft - June 2001. At 12:40 a.m., a jeep rammed the front entrance to Russboro. Three robbers in black masks broke into the house. There they stole a painting by Bellotto and, for the third time, “Portrait of Madame Bacelli” by Gainsborough. The whole operation took three minutes. The paintings were found in Dublin a year later. The fourth theft was in September 2002. At 5 am the siren started blaring. The criminals broke a window from the rear facade of the house. 5 paintings were stolen, including Rubens' "Dominican Friar". The plan worked thanks to incredible efficiency: changing cars several times, the criminals broke away from the police who arrived. Three months later, detectives seized all the paintings from resellers in Dublin. WITH light hand The General's Russboro robbery became something of a rite of passage for every new leader of the Irish mafia. The Beit family decided not to tempt fate and gave most of paintings National Museum in Dublin.