Vasari Art Codex

gavel restitution schedule Apr 2, 2026 source 2 sources visibility 11 link 1 artist

Heirs to the Bic Empire Say They’ve Been Robbed of a Renaissance Masterwork

The heirs to the Bic pen fortune, Gonzalve, Charles, and Guillaume Bich, have filed a lawsuit alleging a 15th-century masterpiece by Fra Angelico was stolen from their family. They claim the painting, 'Saint Sixtus,' was taken by their father's chauffeur in 2006 and sold to art dealer Richard Feigen, who later sold it to Chilean collector Alvaro Saieh in 2018. The heirs are now suing Saieh to reclaim the artwork and seeking the return of sale proceeds from Feigen's estate.

newspaper Artforum Also: ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jan 20, 2026 visibility 3 link 1 artist

louvre robbery footage french television 1234770196

French broadcaster France Télévisions aired previously unseen footage of the October 2025 robbery at the Louvre Museum, in which thieves stole crown jewels worth approximately €88 million ($102 million). The four-minute video, shown on the investigative program Complément d'enquête, captures the thieves smashing display cases with their fists and an angle grinder while security guards remain largely motionless nearby. One guard briefly confronts the thieves with a rope stanchion before backing down, and another makes a phone call. The footage corroborates findings from a security audit that deemed the museum's system "outdated and inadequate," with a severe lack of functioning cameras. Louvre director Laurence des Cars had previously stated that the sole camera covering the gallery was facing the wrong direction, and it took guards eight minutes to access the correct feed during the break-in.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jan 15, 2026 visibility 3 link 2 artists

stolen louvre robbery jewels investigation update parking lot 1234770011

Paris investigators have traced the last known location of $102 million in jewels stolen from the Louvre in October 2025 to an underground parking lot in Aubervilliers, a suburb of Paris. The Anti-Gang Brigade (BRB) used CCTV footage to follow two scooters used in the escape to the garage, where suspects Abdoulaye N., Slimane K., and Rachid H. are believed to have hidden the loot and getaway vehicles. Despite eight arrests, the jewels remain missing, and the vehicles have not been recovered.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 11, 2025 visibility 1 link 3 artists

uk police seek suspects in high value burglary at bristol museum 1234766186

UK police have released CCTV footage of suspects in a high-value burglary at the Bristol Museum, where over 600 artifacts from the British Empire and Commonwealth collection were stolen on September 25. The stolen items include military memorabilia, jewelry, a carved ivory Buddha, a belt buckle from the East India Company uniform, bronze figurines, and geological specimens, taken from an archive in the Cumberland Basin area. Authorities withheld details until now to aid the investigation, which involves forensic analysis and significant CCTV inquiries.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Oct 23, 2025 link 1 artist

french culture ministry admits stolen louvre jewels valued at 102 m are not insured 1234758527

Masked thieves stole jewels once belonging to Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie from the Louvre in a daylight smash-and-grab, using a furniture lift to access the first floor and cutting into display cases. The stolen items, including a diamond-encrusted brooch, diadems, necklaces, and the empress's crown (which was dropped during the escape), are valued at $102 million. French officials have admitted the loot is not privately insured, meaning the state will not be reimbursed if the items are not recovered. Louvre director Laurence des Cars blamed a "terrible failure" in security, offered her resignation (which was refused), and acknowledged staff did not detect the thieves soon enough.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Oct 20, 2025 visibility 2 link 1 artist

french audit louvre robbery security flaws no cameras 1234757968

A leaked French government audit reveals that the Louvre Museum's security system is "outdated and inadequate," with significant gaps in CCTV coverage. The report, conducted by France's Court of Auditors and set for public release next month, found that modernization of security systems had been repeatedly postponed, and cameras were mostly installed only when rooms were refurbished. In the Denon Wing, home to the Mona Lisa, one-third of rooms lack cameras; in the Richelieu Wing, 75 percent of rooms are without them. Only 138 additional cameras have been installed since 2019. The audit was initiated by Louvre president and director Laurence des Cars after she assumed the role in 2021. The findings follow a robbery of French crown jewels from the museum and come amid staff strikes over understaffing and overcrowding.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Oct 20, 2025 visibility 2 link 1 artist

french audit louvre robbery security flaws no cameras 1234757968

A government audit leaked to Radio France reveals that the Louvre Museum's security system is "outdated and inadequate," following the robbery of French crown jewels from the museum on Sunday. The report, conducted by France's Court of Auditors, found repeated postponements of security modernization, with cameras mostly installed only when rooms were refurbished. In the Denon Wing, one-third of rooms lack CCTV; in the Richelieu Wing, 75 percent are without cameras. Only 138 additional cameras have been installed since 2019. The audit was initiated by Louvre president and director Laurence des Cars in 2021. Staff went on strike in June over understaffing, and the museum and President Macron recently announced a major renovation estimated at €700–800 million.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jan 15, 2026 visibility 3 link 3 artists

stolen louvre jewels parking garage 2737363

Police have identified a parking garage in Aubervilliers, a Paris suburb, as the last known location of the jewels stolen from the Louvre in a $102 million heist on October 19. Surveillance footage shows two suspects handling some of the stolen pieces less than an hour after the robbery. Four men have been arrested—including a former YouTube stunt rider known as “Doudou Cross Bitume”—and a fifth suspect, a woman, remains at large. The jewels themselves have not been recovered.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jan 10, 2026 visibility 2 link 1 artist

recovered picassos art theft trial nice 1234769368

Seven years after an undercover sting in Nice, France, recovered a cache of stolen artworks including several by Pablo Picasso, ten defendants are now on trial. The 2017 police operation, triggered by a tip from Belgium, involved officers posing as Swiss buyers who met a seller at a Nice hotel and were led to a house in Peillon filled with stolen pieces. Among the recovered works were Picasso's *Le vieux roi* and *Le clown*, along with other items traced to a burglary in Saint-Paul-de-Vence and an armed robbery in Èze. The trial consolidates earlier investigations into a suspected art theft and fencing network, with prosecutors alleging the Peillon property served as a storage and sales hub.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Mar 11, 2026 visibility 5 link 1 artist, 2 galleries

Snuffboxes stolen in Paris daylight robbery to go on display at V&A

Five 18th-century gold snuffboxes recovered after a violent daylight robbery in Paris are set to go on public display at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The objects were stolen in November 2024 from the Musée Cognacq-Jay during a high-profile heist that targeted pieces from the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, the Louvre, and the UK Royal Collection. Following an extensive police investigation and delicate restoration work by Parisian goldsmiths to repair damage sustained during the theft, the items will headline the opening of the V&A’s newly revamped Gilbert Galleries.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Dec 4, 2025 visibility 5 link 12 artists, 3 galleries

Art Basel Miami Beach Diary: a pettable bronze piece, an un-buttoned up party and tarot in a grotto

At Art Basel Miami Beach, the art collective MSCHF invites fairgoers to touch their bronze sculpture *Touch Me Sculpture One More Time* (2024) on Perrotin’s stand, featuring a counter that tracks each pat. The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami hosted a VIP opening night with figures like director Alex Gartenfeld and artist Andreas Schulze, while the Thom Browne club stood out in matching attire. Other highlights include kinetic sculptures by Breakfast (Andrew Zolty) at 1 Hotel South Beach, a tarot-reading grotto by Julie Schenkelberg at Nada fair, and Robbie Williams’s furniture debut with Moooi at Design Miami.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Sep 29, 2025 visibility 1 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

UM Museum Announces Fall 2025 Exhibitions

The University of Montana's Montana Museum of Art and Culture (MMAC) will present three solo exhibitions by Montana artists this fall: Sara Mast's "Standing in the River" (opening Oct. 16), Manette Rene Bradford's "Unsettled Lands" (opening Nov. 13), and a posthumous show for Rand Robbin (opening Dec. 4). The exhibitions span painting, glass sculpture, collage, drawing, and printmaking, with each artist offering a distinct perspective on landscape, nature, and Montana's artistic traditions.

newspaper University of Montana open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Mar 5, 2026 visibility 4 link 6 artists, 1 gallery

Major Brazilian art heist still unsolved as statute of limitations expires

The statute of limitations has officially expired on the 2006 heist at the Museu da Chácara do Céu in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most significant art thefts in Brazilian history. During the chaos of Carnival, armed thieves overpowered guards and stole masterpieces by Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso. Despite the works being valued at over $10 million and listed on international databases like Interpol and the Art Loss Register, the perpetrators were never identified and the art remains missing.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Dec 5, 2025 visibility 2

stolen snuff boxes recovered cognacq jay museum paris 1234757746

Five of seven valuable 18th-century snuffboxes stolen from Paris’s Cognacq-Jay Museum in November 2024 have been recovered. Paris Musées announced the return, crediting a police investigation with assistance from the Paris Criminal Investigation Department. The boxes were taken by masked thieves during a daylight robbery from the exhibition “Pocket Luxury.” Two of the recovered boxes were on loan from the Louvre, two from the British royal family’s Royal Collection Trust, and one from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Two more boxes, one from the V&A and one from the Royal Collection, remain missing. The stolen items, decorated with gold, precious stones, mother-of-pearl, or enamel, are estimated to be worth at least €1 million ($1.16 million).

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Nov 21, 2025 visibility 2

louvre director new security plan heist 1234762798

Louvre director Laurence des Cars defended the museum's security protocols in a New York Times interview following a recent robbery. She revealed that a comprehensive security review had already been initiated, including a master plan to add 100 cameras to the museum's perimeter, and that several companies had bid on the project before the theft occurred. However, she acknowledged that implementation has been slow due to the museum's scale and public procurement rules, with the full camera system not expected to be operational until the end of next year.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Oct 22, 2025

french museum heists continue the house of enlightenment denis diderot 1234758386

Thieves have stolen nearly 2,000 gold and silver coins from the House of Enlightenment, Denis Diderot, in Landres, France, in a nighttime break-in. The heist occurred just hours after a daylight robbery at the Louvre, where eight Napoleon-era jewels worth approximately $102 million were taken from the Galerie d’Apollon. Authorities are investigating possible connections to a series of recent museum burglaries in France, including incidents at the Jacques Chirac Museum in Sarran, the National Adrien Dubouché Museum in Limoges, and the Natural History Museum in Paris.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Apr 1, 2026 visibility 8

A truckload of F1 KitKats, a painting of fish: what is it that makes heists so delicious? | Imogen West-Knights

The article explores the curious public fascination with high-profile heists, using two recent examples as a springboard: the theft of 12 tons of Formula 1-themed KitKats from a truck in Italy and the robbery of paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse from a museum in northern Italy. The author notes that such stories reliably go viral, not due to outrage but because people find them thrilling and even amusing, especially when the victims are large corporations or when the crime feels audacious and tangible.

newspaper The Guardian open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Apr 18, 2026 visibility 14

After the Heists: Securing Museums Without Closing Them Off

Museums worldwide are grappling with the escalating need for heightened security measures following a series of high-profile thefts, including a recent bold robbery at the Louvre. Institutions are forced to re-evaluate their surveillance protocols and physical barriers to protect priceless cultural heritage from increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics.

newspaper New York Times Art open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Mar 18, 2026 visibility 6

Got an Idea About Who Robbed the Gardner Museum? Get in Line.

The 1990 theft of 13 artworks from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum remains unsolved, generating countless theories about the perpetrators. A new book by the former FBI agent who led the investigation for over a decade systematically debunks many prominent public theories, arguing they distract from the actual investigation.

newspaper New York Times Art open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 30, 2025 visibility 1 link 1 artist

statue egypt saqqara archaeology grave robbers 1234754881

Archaeologists working at the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure in Saqqara, Egypt, discovered a limestone statue left behind by grave robbers in 2021, though the find was only detailed earlier this year by Zahi Hawass and Sarah Abdoh in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. The statue depicts a nobleman, his wife, and their young daughter, with the daughter carved in bas-relief rather than fully in the round—a stylistic departure from typical Old Kingdom family statuary.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 30, 2025 visibility 1 link 1 artist

statue egypt saqqara archaeology grave robbers 1234754881

Archaeologists working at the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure in Saqqara, Egypt, discovered an unusual limestone statue left behind by grave robbers. Unearthed in 2021 but detailed only recently by Zahi Hawass and Sarah Abdoh in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, the statue depicts a nobleman, his wife, and their young daughter. The daughter is carved in bas-relief rather than fully in the round, a stylistic departure from typical Old Kingdom family statuary.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Nov 19, 2025 link 2 artists

bad bridget movie 2715142

“Bad Bridget,” an archival research project about Irish women who emigrated to New York, Boston, and Toronto between 1838 and 1918 and engaged in criminal and sexually deviant activities, is being adapted into a Hollywood film. The project, launched by historians Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick in 2015, has already produced a podcast, a book, and a museum exhibition at the Ulster American Folk Park. The film will be produced by Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment, directed by Rich Peppiatt, and star Daisy Edgar-Jones and Emilia Jones as two Irish sisters navigating scandal in 19th-century New York.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 5, 2025 visibility 4 link 4 artists

Art Basel Miami Beach, Louvre crisis deepens, Helene Schjerfbeck—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's 'The Week in Art' podcast covers three major stories. Ben Sutton and Kabir Jhala report from Art Basel Miami Beach, discussing top sales and the overall mood at the fair. Ben Luke speaks with Paris correspondent Vincent Noce about the deepening crisis at the Musée du Louvre following a staff strike and a recent robbery, as the museum plans to raise ticket prices for non-EU visitors by 45%. The episode also features a 'Work of the Week' segment on Helene Schjerfbeck's painting 'The Tapestry' (1914-16), with curator Dita Amory discussing the work ahead of a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Apr 1, 2026 visibility 9

Louvre Museum to Install Locks on Doors After Heist

The Louvre Museum announced it will install locks on its doors for the first time in its history, following a brazen heist last fall where robbers stole priceless items in under seven minutes. The new "state-of-the-art entry inhibition protocol" will involve locking doors and windows after hours, with visitors being checked for bobby pins and paper clips, deemed the greatest security threats.

newspaper Hyperallergic open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Jan 7, 2026 visibility 1 link 2 artists

Suspects in Brazil Matisse heist arrested, but alleged thief nicknamed ‘Gargamel’ remains at large

Brazilian police have arrested three suspects in connection with the December 7 theft of 13 works by Henri Matisse and Candido Portinari from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade in São Paulo. The stolen artworks remain missing. One suspect remains at large: Gabriel Pereira Rodrigues de Mello, nicknamed “Gargamel” and “Capybara”, who had prior robbery convictions overturned earlier this year. The heist involved two armed men who subdued a guard and visitors before removing the works from a glass display case and escaping via a getaway van.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Sep 29, 2025 visibility 2 link 1 gallery

UM Museum Announces Fall 2025 Exhibitions

The University of Montana's Montana Museum of Art and Culture (MMAC) will present three solo exhibitions by Montana artists this fall. The season opens October 16 with Sara Mast's "Standing in the River," featuring abstract paintings and glass sculptures. Manette Rene Bradford's "Unsettled Lands" opens November 13 with collage drawings and sculptures blending landscape and human figures. The final exhibition, "Rand Robbin," opens December 4 and showcases the graphic and sculptural work of the recently deceased artist, a UM alumnus and former rancher whose modernist works are held by the Library of Congress and National Gallery of Art.

newspaper University of Montana open_in_new Read original

article local schedule Jan 27, 2026 visibility 2

Robbins Hunter Museum to host inaugural exhibition of local artist

The Robbins Hunter Museum in Granville, Ohio, will host the inaugural art exhibition of local artist Terry Applegate from January 28-30, 2026. Titled "Where Stillness Speaks," the show features 14 original oil paintings by Applegate, a retired elementary school teacher who began painting after a winter class with Paul Hamilton. Works include serene landscapes, vibrant florals, and scenes of quiet reflection, with key pieces such as “Winter Gift,” “Summer Field,” and “Sunday Morning.” A preview reception will be held on January 28, and the exhibition is free and open to the public, with all works available for purchase.

newspaper The Newark Advocate open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Sep 17, 2025 link 14 artists, 2 galleries

paris natural history museum windsor castle morning links 1234752342

Thieves stole gold worth approximately €600,000 ($700,000) from the Natural History Museum in Paris's Fifth Arrondissement, using an angle grinder and blowtorch to break in during the night. The robbery was detected on Tuesday morning, and the museum's mineralogy gallery closed afterward. Separately, five members of the punk art collective Pussy Riot were sentenced in absentia by a Moscow court to 8–13 years for spreading false information about the Russian military, linked to a 2022 antiwar video. Other news includes the identification of manganese blue in a Jackson Pollock painting, a protest banner at Windsor Castle, new acquisitions at the Norton Museum, an upcoming Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition on Marie Antoinette, a gallery move in New York, and a preview of Calder Gardens in Philadelphia.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original