The FBI Art Crime Team announced on Monday that it was adding the theft of Frans Van Mieris A Cavalier (Self Portrait) which was stolen from an Australian Gallery back in June. The work may be worth as much as $1.4 million Australian. The work is not large, measuring about 30cm x 26cm. The Director of the Art Gallery of NSW, Edmund Capon said “To be honest, I could slip it under your coat… it could have happened that way”.
The Top 10 Art Crimes list was initiated in 2005, and since then 10 of the various examples have been recovered:
- A Rembrandt self-portrait and Renoir’s Young Parisian from Sweden’s National Museum theft;
- Goya’s Children with a Cart from the Toledo Art Museum theft;
- Munch’s The Scream and The Madonna from the Munch Museum theft in Oslo;
- and the Cellini Salt Cellar from the Kunsthistorisches Museum theft in Vienna.
- Also recovered was the Statue of Entemena from the Iraqi Looted and Stolen Artifacts entry.
That’s an impressive start, and indicates there is a growing need for continued publication of high-profile thefts like these.
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