Crimes of the Century - No. 15 - America's Biggest Art Heist

AMERICA'S BIGGEST ART HEIST, 1990

 

This is the second time I have mentioned art as one of the "Crimes of the Century," and rightly so.  While the second issue of the series focused on the most famous art heist in the world, the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911.  Today we look at the largest, most expensive art heist in the world.  And it happened on American soil, only 22 years ago.

In the coming weeks, as you read through the 25 crimes Time Magazine has selected, you will wonder which of them will remain in the popular, perhaps even the artistic imagination in the years to come? How will they be retold and with what kinds of lessons and cautions in mind? Here's the 15th issue of Time's infamous list of 24 notorious crimes.  How do you think they will fare?

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Isabella Stewart Gardner was an heiress andthe wife of a rich man. And so she went shopping, buying an eclectic but extravagant collection of artwork on sprees through Europe in the early 20th century. Among her treasures were a Vermeer ("The Concert") and a Rembrandt ("Storm on the Sea of Galilee"), two certified masterpieces. When she died in 1924, Gardner stipulated that the small but exquisite museum in Boston she had built to house her treasures should have nothing new added to it; nor should any of the art be repositioned. Both rules were violated on March 18, 1990, when two men dressed as Boston cops waltzed into the museum after 1 a.m., tied up the guards, shut off the alarm system and took off with the Vermeer, the Rembrandt and several less valuable pieces. The police at one point estimated the value of the stolen goods at $300 million. It is still listed as the biggest American art robbery on the FBI's website. That's because nothing has been recovered. 

 

In the 17 years since the theft, there may have been one tantalizing glimpse of the Rembrandt when unknown men brought a Boston Herald reporter to a warehouse where he saw what he believed was the "Sea of Galilee." But otherwise, the fear is that the thieves grabbed what they could, sometimes crudely, and may now not know what to do with their haul. The Vermeer, one of only 32 known works by the artist in existence, may be worth at least $70 million, and so beautifully famous that it is unsellable on the open market. So the greatest art heist in American history may have been a botch, a tragedy so terrible that the thieves may have to destroy the very treasures they stole in order to conceal their guilt.

TIME Magazine posted this article online several years ago, along with a list of 24 additional notorious crimes that I have been posting and will continue to post every Saturday on my blog.  Hope you enjoy.

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To read the previous 14 crimes - click my logo below.