The time two undercover thieves achieved their goal, the theft of a series of iconic pieces valued at $500 million.
In 1903, Isabella Stewart Gardnera philanthropist and art collector, She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with a collection of great works and without charging visitors admission. Gardner, daughter and widow of successful businessmen, had an flamboyant personality, and was friends with some influential figures of the time, such as the suffragette Julia Ward Howe and the composer Ethel Smyth.
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In 1911, after the theft of the Mona Lisathe philanthropist instructed her guards to shoot to kill if anyone attempted a robbery at the Gardner. Much later, that same museum would be the place where the the biggest art theft in history. On March 18, 1990, two men disguised as police officers stole 13 valuable piecesincluding works by Rembrandt and Vermeervalued at more than 500 million dollars.
A curious fact was the choice of the stolen paintings. For example, the thieves did not take the most expensive piece in the museum: “The Abduction of Europe” by Titianpossibly due to its large size, measuring almost 1.8 x 2 meters. In that sense, the largest theft was “Christ in the storm on the Sea of Galilee” by Rembrandt, which has dimensions of approximately 1.5 x 1.2 meters.
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34 years have passed since that event, and The whereabouts of these paintings still remains a mystery.. However, over the years different theories were considered and certain rumors were fueled.
Twists and rumors in the investigation into the Gardner Museum robbery
Although there is still no answer about the missing works, there were unexpected turns. An example was when, in 2005, two Frenchmen, allegedly associated with the corsican mafiathey tried to sell a Rembrandt and a Vermeer in the French island of Corsica (birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte)in the Mediterranean Sea.
He was in charge of the covert operation Bob Wittmanformer FBI special agent, although this failed because the suspects had been arrested for trying to sell art stolen from the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nice.
Another theory arose from the piece “Chez Tortoni” of Edouard Manet. Immediately, this work was taken from the Blue Room of the museum, where the motion detectors were not activated, which led to suspicion of possible internal work in the theft. In fact, Wittman highlighted that “89% of museum thefts are internal work”.
Who was the only person accused of these robberies?
There was a history of the theft of a Rembrandt from a Boston museum. Myles Connorcareer criminal and art thief entered 1975 to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and he came out with a Rembrandt stuffed in the pocket of his oversized coat.
Connor was the first suspect in the Gardner robberies, although he had a solid alibi because he was in federal prison at the time on drug charges. The thief was also a musician, and he got to know Al Dotoli, who worked with stars like Frank Sinatra and Liza Minelli. In 1976, Connor was imprisoned for another art theft committed in Maine.
Source: Ambito
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