Art Crimes
Dark Athena by Arthur Houghton was a riveting read. It’s the perfect juxtaposition between a spy novel and an art mystery (and having read the author’s background on the book jacket, that comes as no surprise). Houghton served in the…
Read MoreArt Review “Conserving de Kooning: Theft and Recovery” at the Getty Center on view at the Getty Center June 7–August 28, 2022 by Leticia Marie Sanchez Truth is stranger than fiction. Who could have imagined that a pair of…
Read MorePicasso and Monets—Burnt To a Crisp? by Leticia Marie Sanchez Cultural Cocktail Hour® is a registered Trademark Left: Matisse, Reading Girl in White and Yellow(1919) Ed. Note: This article first appeared on Cultural Cocktail Hour in 2016 Will she ever see the light of day?…
Read Moreby Leticia Marie Sanchez FLASHBACK TO AN ART CRIME NEWS STORY FROM 2011 Picasso’s “Le Pigeon aux Petits-Pois” stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern Art Sacré bleu! Is nothing sacred ? A Parisian art thief confessed that he dumped…
Read MoreThis post first appeared in Cultural Cocktail Hour in 2011: Only three days after a Rembrandt drawing valued at $250,000 was snatched from the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey, “The Judgement,” turned up mysteriously at St. Nicholas of Myra Episcopal Church in Encino. An assistant priest…
Read MoreThrowback Tuesday to an Art Crime from 2012 Art World Crime: Joshua Bell Impersonator robs hotel room of world-famous Violinist by Leticia Marie Sanchez HELLO. MY NAME IS JOSHUA BELL. CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME A VIOLIN? OR A ROLEX? THANKS. So…
Read MoreFlashback to 2011 when a Picasso sketch was stolen by a man who preferred to go sockless.. Who: Preppy Sockless Picasso Thief What: Steals Picasso 1962 sketch ““Tête de femme,” valued at $275,000 before heading to party in Napa Where: San Francisco’s Weinstein Gallery at Geary and Powell Streets When: Tuesday the 5th of…
Read MoreThe missing Caravaggio and the “Pizza Connection” By Leticia Marie Sanchez A pilfered painting by Caravaggio has been in the news this month, thanks to an article from Smithsonian magazine that offers new clues to the art mystery. The missing 17th century work, the Nativity with…
Read Moreby Leticia Marie Sanchez Cultural Cocktail Hour® is a registered trademark The New York Times reports that federal officials have released a video that raises questions about the art heist that took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum 25 years ago. In the…
Read MoreIn an unusual twist, the very same museum that declared a Van Gogh painting to be fake in 1991 now declares it to be an authenticated work by the Dutch master. The 1888 landscape painting “Sunset at Montmajour,” has now been hailed…
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