The Atlas of Art Crime

Art history is filled with stories of art crime—but the depth and breadth of these incidents is not generally understood. This first book of its kind illustrates and contextualizes seventy five incidents in a unique format that allows readers to visualize the geography of art crime from the past two centuries. Divided into sections on thefts, vandalism, and forgeries, each crime is profiled with an absorbing narrative and images of the artworks, perpetrators, and scenes of the crime, alongside a map of where it took place. Additional sidebars feature compelling information about the artist and/or the subjects of the work of art. Including renowned crimes such as the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, the 1975 attack on Rembrandt’s Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and Han van Meegeren’s forgery of Vermeer’s Supper at Emmaus in 1936, this book also includes lesser known incidents: the remarkably unnoticed theft of a two-foot high statue weighting fifty pounds; a young couple who mistook an exhibition canvas displayed with the paint cans used to create it for an interactive piece; and a Chinese librarian who stole one hundred forty-three paintings by famous Chinese artists and replaced them with his own fakes. Filled with intrigue, controversies, and power dynamics, this is a captivating exploration of the darker side of art history.