Page 57 - Bloomberg Businessweek July 2018

Bloomberg Businessweek
THE HEIST ISSUE
YOU COULD FILL A MUSEUM

Missing masterpieces draw headlines, but most stolen art is crushingly quotidian—a family portrait
“lost” by a moving company, a landscape snatched with the jewelry during a break-in.
The FBI’s global database has more than 7,200 items. Below are the 3,362 for which the bureau
provides information about size and when the object was made. Each shape is drawn to
scale (1:218, where 1 inch equals about 18 feet) and grouped, left to right, according to the century (or
centuries) in which it was created. If there’s one conclusion to draw, it’s that thieves like
20th century paintings.

By Dorothy Gambrell and James Tarmy
◼ Paintings ◼ Drawings, photos, & prints ◼ Sculptures ◼ Textiles ◼ Furniture & ceramics ◼ Other

Corot’s Le Chemin de Sèvres (1858-59)
was cut out of its frame in broad
daylight in 1998. The Louvre closed
The 1727 Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius JAPANESE its exits and searched all visitors, The burglar who stole Cezanne’s View
CEREMONIAL
violin was valued at about $3 million COSTUME, 18TH- but the painting was gone.
of Auvers-sur-Oise (c. 1880) from
when it was stolen from the New York 19TH CENTURY the Ashmolean Museum—on New
apartment of Erica Morini in 1995.
Year’s Eve, 1999—broke through
At the time, the 91-year-old concert a skylight, then used a smokescreen
violinist had just weeks to live, CHINESE
and she died thinking it was still in LACQUER to blind the security cameras.
SCREEN,
68 her possession. WHALE C. 1875
TOOTH,
1840S GREAT EGRET,
C. 1800-50, KLAGETOH
CHRIST IN THE JOHN J. AUDUBON
STORM ON THE SEA SCRATCH PAPER WITH RUG, 1920S
OF GALILEE, 1633, NOTES BY SIR ISAAC PORTRAIT OF A
REMBRANDT NEWTON SUB-TOTAL, 1972, GIRL, C. 1875-1925,
ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG MARY CASSATT
TIFFANY LAMP, FEMME NUE DEBOUT, 1953,
1920-25 ALBERTO GIACOMETTI
GILA POLYCHROME
BOWL,
13TH CENTURY
LIMESTONE FUNERARY SCULPTURES, 2ND TO 3RD CENTURY (LOOTED BY ISIS)

TANG DYNASTY HORSE, 8TH CENTURY

THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA TAPESTRY, 16TH CENTURY

Created 1600-1799 1800-99 1900-99
before
1600