Greatest Art Heists in History

Art is one of those items of value which criminals consider to be the most impressive to steal. Compared to cash and other valuables, art is one of the most highly prized and most difficult to steal for a number of reasons. For starters unique famous art is very well protected. So to be able to rob a painting from a gallery is most impressive. Getting into a vault-like gallery is one thing, but being able to successfully remove it in one piece is another often due to the sheer size, shape and awkwardness of the item being stolen. Another reason is that art is sought for not just monetary reasons. For some it is the history and the legacy of the image and its artist which is so vigorously desired, while for others it is the prestige of owning something which is wanted by so many others. This is why collectors have been known to commission art thieves to attempt a heist.

Here are some of the most famous art heists in history:

Institute Of Art

Rembrandt's Jacob de Gheyn III

This has been dubbed the 'Most Stolen Painting in the World'. This is of course because it has been stolen more times than any other famous painting. While this is not really the victim of a great art heist on its own, the collective series of thefts makes it one of the greatest. The painting has been recovered every time and has been found in a taxi, on the luggage rack of a train, attached to a bike and under a bench in a graveyard. The most common excuse for its repeated theft is the fact that it measures only 29.9cm x 24.9cm!

Vermeer's The Concert

This was stolen as part of the largest in the world ever when it was taken, along with 13 other pieces from Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. Collectively the items are worth 0 million with Vermeer's The Concert making up 0 million. There is a reward offered for information leading to their recovery which stands at million. A substantial amount when you consider that they consist of nothing more than a few brush strokes of paint or drawing inks bashed out on a canvas on a field easel over the last few hundred years.

Nazi Thefts and Looting during World War 2

Throughout the course of the Second World War, tens of thousands of pieces of art were stolen by the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories which in the ended stole over 20% of the art in Europe. The value of this is almost incalculable, but must be something in the 100s of billions.

Greatest Art Heists in History