Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft

It was a dark night sometime after midnight at the start of March 18th, 1990. Two police officers slowly approached the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. They began talking with the night security guards. After a short time they were able to convince the security guards to let them in the museum. They then escorted the security guards to an area hidden from view and proceeded to hand cuff them.

Over the next couple hours the “police” stole thirteen paints from the museum. These paintings are valued at over 500 million dollars. Some of the works they stole included one of Johannes Vermeer’s thirty-five known paintings titled The Concert. Others they took included three pieces by Rembrandt, including his only seascape The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. Also taken were a series of drawings by Edgar Degas, pieces by Manet and Flinck and two objects. These objects were a Chinese Ku and a finial from a a Napoleonic flag. Today nine of the empty frames still remaining hanging in the museum. Some people believe this to have been in Gardner’s will, but that is not true. .

In the 90s people inclined to belief James Bulger a.k.a. Whitey had played a key role in the theft. This belief has been struck down, however, by members of the Bulger gang and the federal government’s prosecutors. Today it is believed the an IRA faction has the paintings but there remains no proof of this.

The theft has been the subject of many items of popular culture. There was a 2005 documentary titled Stolen that focuses on the theft. The novel the Music Lesson by Katharine Weber discusses a possible explanation for the theft that involves the IRA. The theft inspired a 2010 novel by David Hosp titled Among Thieves. In Best Laid Plans by Sonny Douglass is a fictionalized version of the theft. In a The Simpsons episode titled American History X-cellent one of the stolen paintings is found in the possession of Mr. Burns.

The museum is offering a reward of 5 million dollars for knowledge leading to the safe return of the paintings. This theft is considered the biggest art theft in history. If you have any knowledge of the whereabouts of the paintings please contact your local authorities or the nearest US Embassy.

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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Secret Life of Drawings

The Secret Life of Drawings is an exhibit going on now at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. It is based around things that were discovered during the modern day restoration of drawings from the 1300s to the late 1800s. One thing they have discovered include a watermark from an 1500s paper mill that was used to date a drawing. Another thing they discovered was a previously unknown drawing by Bandinelli on the back of one of his other drawings that was used to sketch out one of his most famous sculptures.

I urge you to check out the site here and watch the video of one of the Getty Museum conservators restoring several pieces- it's amazing.

It really is incredible and I have come to believe that restoring art is an art in itself. I hope I can make it over to LA to see the exhibit before it is finished.



Make sure and follow us if you like what you see! And as always, don't forget to stop by our MAIN website by clicking here. We provide everything you need and need to know about art! You can also stop by our art forum by clicking here. Give us your thoughts, opinions, and ideas. Collaborate with other artists and art lovers via the Art Fortune Art Forum! Can't wait to see you there.
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