The Atlas of Art Crime: Thefts, Vandalism, and Forgeries

“an education, a history lesson, a whodunit, and a wonderful introduction to the world of art—and crime.”

“On New Year's Day in 1984 three men dressed in overalls hung a ‘Work in Progress’ sign at the front of St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta to prevent anyone from entering the church. Inside the cathedral are a breathtaking array of ornate decorative elements: intricate carvings, stunning paintings, and a whole lot of bling. Two of the church’s crown jewels are paintings by Caravaggio: the dramatic masterpiece “The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist” (1608) and the quiet study “Saint Jerome Writing” (c. 1607–1608).

“After hanging the work in progress sign, the thieves did just that: they got to work. They proceeded to lower one of the cathedral’s two Caravaggios—"Saint Jerome Writing”—from its place on the wall and cut the painting from its frame.”

Laurie Evans, author of The Atlas of Art Crime, describes herself as have been obsessed with the theft of art since early in life, starting with a steady diet of Scooby-Doo as a child. She was beguiled by Miss Piggy saving the famed Baseball Diamond when she saw her first movie about art theft, The Great Muppet Caper. She was haunted as an undergraduate art history student by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft that left empty frames or what she describes as “tombstones marking the graves of the stolen paintings.”

A distinguished teaching professor and the Coordinator of the Art Museum Education Certificate at the University of North Texas, Denton, Evans teaches among other things about art crime. Adding to her resume she has worked at art museums throughout the world and has also collaborated with museums in the U.S. to provide museology trainings.

Obviously then she is the perfect person to author this intriguing book which she divides into several types of art crimes: thefts, vandalism, and forgeries and then further drills down by countries and regions. She also reflects on why we are drawn to art crime, at times romanticizing it instead of being outraged. Art theft is certainly a problem. In the early 2000s, Evans writes that the FBI's Art Theft Team believes that each year $4 to 6 billion worth of art is stolen around the world.

Writing in a breezy and easy-to-read style, Evans presents 75 cases of stolen art, taking us to the scene and detailing the works pilfered. Lavishly illustrated on thick glossy stock, we see maps of where the thefts took place, photos of the perpetrators when available, and the lush works itself. She covers some of the most well-known heists—the 1911 theft of the “Mona Lisa” from the Louvre in Paris and Han van Meegeren’s forgery of Vermeer’s “The Supper at Emmaus” in 1937. But she also shares stories on more obscure art forgeries and thefts—the ruby red slippers that disappeared from the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota and the Chinese librarian who stole 143 paintings by famous Chinese artists and cunningly replaced them with his own forgeries.

This is a wonderfully informative book that can be read straight through from start to finish or by flipping the pages until a certain painting or story stands out. Either way, it is an education, a history lesson, a whodunit, and a wonderful introduction to the world of art—and crime.