[CPProt.net] Leonardo, Cezanne among FBI's most wanted. Bureau creates list to track down notorious art heists

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Leonardo, Cezanne among FBI's most wanted
Bureau creates list to track down notorious art heists

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 Posted: 0218 GMT (1018 HKT) 

FBI's initiative to solve art thefts (2:04)  

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- How did two pricey Van Goghs become Van Gone?

That is one of many questions asked by the FBI Tuesday when the agency
unveiled its list of the world's "Top 10 Art Crimes," an effort to enlist
the public's help in solving some of the world's most famous art heists.

The Van Goghs, "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" and
"View of the Sea at Scheveningen," which are valued at a collective $30
million, are high on the FBI's list of artworks it wants to retrieve. Both
were stolen from the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in
2002. 

Two men were arrested in the theft, but the paintings have not been found.

Art theft has become a thriving black-market industry that causes global
losses of about $6 billion a year, according to the FBI. However, FBI
assistant director Chris Swecker said during a Tuesday press conference that
the amount isn't precise because art is difficult to appraise. For example,
a piece expected to snare $4 million at auction recently sold for $13
million, he said. (Watch the FBI's new art crime team -- 2:04)

Saying art theft "impoverishes us all," Swecker said that the "theft of
cultural property is a worldwide problem, and the FBI Art Theft Program and
Art Crime Team are part of the solution." Making the crimes more serious is
that the FBI has evidence of ties to organized crime and terrorism, he said.

The stolen works on the agency's list could form an impressive gallery on
their own. Along with the Van Goghs are works by Leonardo da Vinci, Paul
Cezanne and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The institutions that were
robbed dot the globe, from Boston to Baghdad.

Perhaps the most recognizable masterpiece on the list is Edvard Munch's "The
Scream," which was stolen, along with the painter's "The Madonna," from the
museum bearing his name in Oslo, Norway, last year. (Full story)

The list includes thefts of works other than paintings, such as the $3
million Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius violin, which was stolen in 1995 from
the New York City apartment of Erica Morini, a noted concert violinist.

In an apparent effort to tout the successes of its year-old Art Crime Team,
the bureau also included on the Top 10 list the theft of three paintings
that have already been recovered. 

Two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and a self-portrait by Rembrandt van
Rijn were stolen from the National Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2000. 

One of the Renoirs was recovered by the Stockholm County Police the next
year. A task force of international police agencies, including the FBI,
found the other missing Renoir and the Rembrandt this year. The missing
Renoir was found in Los Angeles, California, and the Rembrandt was found in
Copenhagen, Denmark, according to an FBI press release.

Also included on the list are Cezanne's "View of Auvers-sur-Oise;"
Leonardo's "Madonna of the Yarnwinder;" Benvenuto Cellini's "Salt Cellar;"
Caravaggio's "Nativity;" between 7,000 and 10,000 looted or stolen Iraqi
artifacts; and 12 pieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (including
three more Rembrandts) worth an estimated $300 million. (Wolf Blitzer on how
the museum tried to retrieve its artwork in March)

The FBI hopes its Top 10 list will increase the visibility of its Art Crime
Team, yielding more leads and tips to recover the art, Swecker said. The
bureau also has established a tip line on its Web site, www.fbi.gov.

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