Two important events happened over a two day span in Boston in March of 1990. The first of these was, of course, Saint Patrick's Day. The second was the art theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which took place on March 18, 1990. This robbery has never been solved, and the stolen artwork has never been recovered. The art works stolen had an estimated combined value of somewhere between $100 and $300 million dollars and were the creations of artists with names like Manet, Vermeer, Rembrandt and Degas. On the 17th anniversary of the theft, the Gardner Museum issued a press release which included the offer of a $5 million dollar reward for information leading to the return of the artwork. If you visit the Gardner Museum today, you will still see the empty frames hanging on the wall since the will which created the museum requires that the collection remain the same.

The number of art thefts has not declined over the last 18 years. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has an Art Theft Program. The Gardner Museum theft is listed here as one of the top ten FBI art crimes. International art theft is also a growing problem. In Zurich, Switzerland four paintings were recently stolen from a small museum in broad daylight. Two of the paintings were later recovered, but international law organizations see this as a growing problem for small museums that cannot afford major security upgrades.

There is a mystique about art theft which seems to overlook the fact that it is a crime. Motion pictures and books often romanticize the art thief. The motive for art theft in literature and film is often to satisfy a selfish, rich collector who will pay anything to keep the best treasures of the art world for himself. In real life, that is usually not the case. Many times an art thief knows nothing about art and has no buyer when he steals the piece. It's just a way to, hopefully, make quick money.

The library has an interesting collection of art theft related material from movies to fiction to non-fiction. Here are a few selections:
Stolen: a movie made based on the events of the Gardner Museum theft
How to steal a million: a movie about stealing a forgery from an art museum
Art theft is a popular theme with writers of mystery fiction. Some of the library's newer art theft fiction includes:
Cat in a quicksilver caper by Carole Nelson Douglas
False impression by Jeffrey Archer
The brotherhood of the Holy Shroud by Julia Navarro
Always a thief by Kay Hooper
The library has some new nonfiction dealing with art theft. Two of these give a historical perspective on the problem:
Museum of the missing : a history of art theft by Simon Houpt
Rescuing da Vinci : Hitler and the Nazis stole Europe's great art : America and her allies recovered it by Robert M Edsel