From Da Vinci to Rembrandt, here's a look at some famous museum heists throughout history
Thieves reportedly stole nine pieces of valuable jewellery from the Louvre on Sunday, but it's not the first daring heist at the museum. Here’s a look at some other famous heists worldwide.
On Sunday morning, a group of thieves allegedly stole nine pieces of jewellery from the collection of Napoleon in the Louvre, using a basket lift to reach the museum.
The daring heist at the world’s most visited museum occurred as tourists were inside the Apollo Gallery, where part of the French crown jewels are displayed.
The theft that took place about half an hour after opening, with visitors already inside, was among the highest-profile museum heists in living memory and comes as staff complained that crowding and thin staffing keep straining France's top museum's security.
The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. In fact, one of the most famous museum heists in history took place there in 1911, when the now legendary Mona Lisa vanished from its frame.
Here are just a few high-profile art thefts that have taken place throughout history.
'Mona Lisa' by Leonardo Da Vinci, Louvre Museum, 1911
Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is unarguably one of the world's most famous works of art, and the most popular attraction in the Louvre today.
But before its theft, it was not widely known outside the art world. In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia, a former employee, hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat.
After the Louvre announced the theft, newspapers all over the world ran headlines about the missing masterpiece.
It was recovered two years later in Florence after Peruggia tried to sell the painting — an episode that helped make da Vinci’s portrait the world’s best-known artwork.
'Jacob de Gheyn III' by Rembrandt, Dulwich Picture Gallery, 1966, 1973, 1981 and 1983
In one of the more bizarre cases of art theft, Rembrandt's "Jacob de Gheyn III" has become one of the most frequently stolen major paintings in modern history, according to the Guinness Book of Records, nicknamed the "takeaway Rembrandt".
It was first stolen from the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London in 1966 along with two other works, then again in 1973, 1981 and 1983. The portrait was recovered after every theft and remains on display at the museum today.
The most stolen artwork of all time, however, is the Ghent Altarpiece, also known as "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" by Jan van Eyck. It was reported stolen seven times, plundered by Napoleon's troops in 1794, as well as by the Nazis during World War II.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist, Boston, 1990
It’s been called the biggest art heist in US history, but 35 years later, the theft of 13 works from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum remains unsolved.
In the early hours of 18 March 1990, two men disguised as Boston police officers talked their way into the museum by saying they were responding to a call.
They overpowered two security guards, bound them with duct tape and spent more than an hour pilfering 13 works of art, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet.
Vermeer's "The Concert", one of the most valuable stolen items, was worth perhaps as much as half a billion dollars, authorities said.
Some of the works, including Rembrandt’s “Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” were cut from their frames. Those frames hang empty in the museum to this day.
Van Gogh Museum Heist, Amsterdam, 1991 and 2002
Two paintings were stolen by thieves who used a ladder and sledgehammers to break in from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum in 2002.
The paintings were found by Italian police and were recovered from the Naples mafia. After being missing for 14 years, they were found and returned to the museum in 2016.
The Van Gogh Museum had also been robbed just a few years earlier in 1991, when 20 paintings estimated to be worth over €400 million were stolen, including the famous "The Potato Eaters".
They were found shortly afterwards in an abandoned car not far away.
18th-century jewels, Dresden's Green Vault, 2019
In 2019, thieves smashed vitrines in Dresden’s Green Vault, one of the world’s oldest museums, and carried off diamond-studded royal jewels worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Officials said they made off with three “priceless” sets of 18th-century jewellery that would be impossible to sell on the open market.
Part of the haul was later recovered. Five men were convicted, and a sixth was acquitted.
