Stolen art

France's long-awaited restitution policy is finally here

Guidelines for returning objects looted from former colonies and during the Nazi period are laid out in a report commissioned by Emmanuel Macron and written by former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez

Former museum aide sentenced for stealing Indigenous artefacts, including a grizzly bear necklace

Preston Jay Spotted Eagle has been sentenced to five years probation on charges of stealing government property from his former employer, the Museum of the Plains Indian on the Blackfoot reservation in Montana

FBI launches app to help identify stolen art

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has made its Nation Stolen Art File, most commonly used by law enforcement, available on mobile to the public

More than 50 historical guns returned to US museums they were stolen from decades ago

A lead in a 1970s cold case led investigators to a trove of stolen historical weapons; now, these objects are being returned to the institutions they belong to

Collector cracks art heist cold case with a pillowcase and reverse Google image search

Decades after it was stolen from the Worcester Art Museum, collector Clifford Schorer spotted a missing Dutch Golden Age painting printed on a throw pillow

Crime news

Police recover bulk of objects stolen in audacious £100m art heist from Dresden museum

Announcement was made during the trial of six men which began in January and is due to resume this week

Poland says Kandinsky painting sold at Berlin auction house was stolen from the National Museum in Warsaw

Authorities are now taking legal steps to recover the work after it made €387,500 at Grisebach

Paris gallerists—found guilty of selling Picasso works stolen by handyman—receive suspended jail sentences

Belle et Belle gallery has now been dissolved, closing the chapter on a decade-long criminal investigation

Stolen Picasso painting 'worth millions of dollars' found during drug raid, Iraqi authorities claim

Work was in the possession of three suspects who have been arrested for involvement in the trade of narcotics

Interpol launches app to identify stolen art—and it has already been used to discover loot

Spanish police say they used the ID-art programme to successfully spot stolen Roman coins worth €200,000

Slash and burn: does artistic sabotage always pay off?

A slashed Velázquez and a burnt Banksy achieved notoriety, but vandalism in the name of the NFT faces ethical hurdles

Crime news

Number of art thefts in Italy plummets—partly thanks to drones

New report by special police force finds increase in security and surveillance technology has dissuaded dealers in stolen art

Dutch police arrest over Van Gogh smash-and-grab raid: how long until the landscape is recovered?

The suspect is linked to a Frans Hals theft, which should help track down paintings from two museums

a blog by Martin Bailey

Police discovers stolen Salvator Mundi in Naples apartment

The copy of Leonardo's $450m painting was taken from the Museum of San Domenico Maggiore last year

Samsung partners with art crime expert to hunt for world's missing masterpieces

Paintings by Monet, Van Gogh and Cézanne, which were stolen in dramatic art heists, are available to view online

Art theftanalysis

Steal and repeat: why art gets stolen time and again

When works of art are taken multiple times, it is often more about criminal prestige or bargaining chips for reducing prison sentences

Stolen Mao Zedong scroll worth $300m found cut in half after being resold for $65

Hong Kong police have arrested three men in relation to a $645m heist that included calligraphy by the Communist leader and other revolutionary art and ephemera

Van Gogh held hostage: private detective tells us he has more photographs

Will Arthur Brand’s images of the stolen painting lead to a recovery?

a blog by Martin Bailey

Coronavirus might be limiting our travels but one painting is still on the move (somewhere)

Terry Frost's work, which was last seen on a train between London Euston and Crewe, joins a long list of disappearances associated with public transport

Podcastspodcast

Art theft: are museums safe under lockdown?

Plus, Laura Cumming on Breugel. Produced in association with Christie's

Hosted by Ben Luke. , with guest speaker Martin Bailey. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Three paintings—including valuable Van Dyck portrait—stolen from Oxford University gallery

London-based Old Masters dealer says that the works are “an unusual group to steal—neither priceless nor small fry”

Los Angeles police recover $800,000 worth of stolen lithographs by Scottish artist Benjamin Creme

Missing since 2012, around 1,300 prints have been returned to their rightful owner, who used to sell Creme's works

Romearchive

An Italian archaeologist pleads for professionals to gather information from farmers and from those living near ancient sites

The integrity of most archaeological sites in Italy has been compromised by extensive illicit excavations, which have caused the loss of an enormous quantity of archaeological information

Art marketarchive

Databases of stolen art can help thwart art thieves and promote vigilance

Registering items in such databases can bring peace of mind

The arguments for and against Unidroit

Our second Art Law Supplement examines cultural property export regulations; the legal loopholes in their international enforcement and the latest proposed solution: the controversial 1995 Unidroit Convention on Stolen and Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. We also deal with art and artists on the edge of society, in articles on censorship and the creations of the mentally ill