Search for Treasure Worldwide Chapter 540: Top art thief (please vote for me, please recommend)
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The shooting continued, as did Ye Tian’s brief explanation and precise identification.
“This is one of the masterpieces of Van Gogh, the famous nineteenth-century Dutch painter and pioneer of post-impressionism, “The Congregation of Nuenen Leaving the Reformed Church.”
In 2000, this famous painting was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, along with another famous painting by Van Gogh, “Scheveningen Beach”.
The famous painting is also here, you will see it later! These two famous paintings were estimated at 25 million pounds at the time, but that was only the lowest estimate given by the museum and did not meet the market value!
Now more than ten years have passed, and their value has doubled several times, even ten times! In the current art market, the price of these two famous paintings should be more than 100 million US dollars!
Shortly after the theft, the two suspects were arrested by the police. However, the two famous paintings have disappeared. There has been no news for more than ten years, and they seem to have completely disappeared!
But who would have thought that they would be smuggled to the United States and hidden here? It’s incredible! Apparently, today is a lucky day for the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam!
Now that they have been discovered, I believe they will appear in front of the public soon. It won’t be long before everyone can once again appreciate the artistic charm of these two top-notch oil paintings in the museum! “
After introducing two works by Van Gogh, Ye Tian pointed the phone camera at another famous painting.
“This is a masterpiece, “Portrait of Medici” by Rubens, a seventeenth-century Flemish painter, an outstanding representative of Baroque art, and an art master.
In 2008, this famous painting was stolen from a private museum in Denmark. Also stolen was “Madman”, a masterpiece by the famous Spanish romantic painter Goya.
Like other top-notch paintings highlighted previously, these two paintings are world-class masterpieces with very high artistic value and market value…”
In the blink of an eye, another top-notch painting appeared on the phone screen.
Ye Tian’s professional explanation and appraisal followed immediately!
“I believe many people recognize the painting in front of me. This is “The Dove and the Pea” by Picasso, the famous Spanish Cubist painter, founder of modern art.
This famous painting was stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2010. According to legend, this famous painting was completely damaged. I didn’t expect to see it here. I’m so lucky!
As can be seen from the video image, this famous painting is in good condition and no traces of repair can be seen. From this, it can be seen that the rumor is just a smoke bomb released by the art thief! …”
“What appears in front of everyone at this moment is an abstract expressionist painting from the soul of abstract expressionism, Willem de Kooning. This is one of his representative works!
This is a stolen painting that was stolen from the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009. Also stolen were several famous Impressionist paintings. Unfortunately, I did not see those famous paintings! …”
After Abstract Expressionism, paintings of another artistic style immediately appeared on the mobile phone screen!
After a moment’s pause, Ye Tian’s voice immediately sounded again!
“This is “Woman Holding a Fan”, a famous painter from the Paris School, known as the ‘Prince of Montparnasse’, and one of Modigliani’s representative works.
Like “The Dove and the Pea”, this famous painting was also stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and it actually appears here. It seems that art thieves are very fond of this museum in Paris.
You may remember that not long ago, Sotheby’s in New York sold another famous painting by Modigliani, “Fruit Girl Lying on Her Side.”
The two paintings are both Modigliani’s peak works. They are equally comparable and were created at a very close time. Even the model is the same woman, Modigliani’s lover.
At the Sotheby’s auction in New York, the painting “Fruit Girl Lying on Side” sold for a sky-high price of US$170 million. So how much is this painting worth? Everyone can enjoy it! ?
Time passed quickly, and it was an hour in the blink of an eye.
Until his mouth was dry and his throat was about to smoke, Ye Tiancai had no choice but to stop and prepare to rest for a while before continuing to fight!
At this time, he had only taken less than half of the photos, and there were still many antique artworks waiting to be taken in the warehouse!
This is the result of deliberately speeding up the shooting!
For some paintings that are generally well-known and not very valuable, as well as all prints, drawings, sketches, etc., he just briefly introduces whose works, and then passes them by, in order to save time as much as possible!
If I didn’t do this and introduce each piece of antique art in detail, I’d probably not even finish a third of it!
Even so, the shooting speed was still too slow, which made Ye Tian somewhat anxious!
The longer I stay here, the more dangerous it becomes, and the higher the chance of being discovered by that old guy Thompson.
Surveillance video is one thing, but the consumption of portable generators and batteries is also a problem. If the power consumption increases too much, the old guy might become suspicious.
There are air conditioners and humidifiers that run 24 hours a day, which consume electricity all the time. As long as the increase in electricity consumption is controlled within a reasonable range, it should not be difficult to get by!
In addition, if the shooting time is too long, the mobile phone battery may not be able to sustain it.
Ye Tian raised his hand to look at the time, and then made a quick decision.
For the next photo shoot, if it is not a very important work of art, then try to be as concise as possible, just introduce the name, author, give the identification conclusion and that’s it, don’t mention anything else!
This will definitely increase the speed a lot and complete the shooting as quickly as possible.
You know, there is a lighted room next door. It is not yet known whether it is a warehouse for hiding and displaying artwork, or a private studio.
In addition, you should also set aside some time for perspective exploration to find other secret passages!
If you find it, you might want to go in and investigate.
While resting, Ye Tian was also admiring the many top antique artworks in front of him, with an intoxicated expression on his face!
And in his heart, he was secretly sighing!
This old guy Thompson is so generous! He is definitely one of the largest and craziest international art thieves in the world!
Once the many antique works of art in this warehouse are released, they will definitely cause a sensation in the world and shake up the entire field of antique art collection!
And this old guy Thompson will instantly become a celebrity and become notorious! What he has done in the past thirty years is enough to make everyone stunned!
In the field of art crime, there are few crazier guys than him. He is definitely one of the few!
The last such crazy art thief was Frenchman Stefan Brevitzer.
In six years, that guy stole 239 works of art and other exhibits from 172 museums in Europe, with an average of one theft every fifteen days, which is very crazy!
It wasn’t until he was caught stealing at the Wagera Museum in Switzerland in 2001 that the most efficient art thief in history ended his legendary art theft career!
Since then, there has never been such a crazy art thief!
But who would have thought that Boston would actually hide such a top art thief, and he would hide it so deeply that he did not reveal any flaws for thirty years!
In this regard, Thompson is obviously much better than Brevitzer, and he can throw that guy eight blocks away!
In addition, there are some differences between these two top art thieves.
Because Brewitz loves art very much and wants to own his favorite works of art, he went to major museums in Europe to steal them like crazy!
He calls himself an art connoisseur and loves master works from the 16th to 17th centuries. His main target of theft is famous artworks from this period.
Later police investigation results also proved that what he said was true,
He kept all the stolen paintings at home and admired them alone! He treasures every famous painting he stole, and his appreciation level is no worse than that of art appraisal experts!
Brevitz usually spends a lot of time with his ‘collection’ and never thinks about selling it for profit. He will even burn the identified forgeries to maintain the purity of art!
Thompson is just the opposite. He steals top antiques and art, not because of his love for art, but all for money, simple and crude!
In this regard, his level is much worse than that of Brevitzer, and he was dumped eight times!
In terms of their methods of doing things, their styles are also very different, very different!
Brevitzer likes to do it himself, and steals all antiques and art by himself. He can be regarded as a top art thief with great skills and boldness!
Thompson is just the opposite. Except for the case at the Gardner Museum, he probably will not personally end the other art theft cases. Instead, he will direct them from the dark. It can be said that he is very cunning and an old fox!
From the stolen top antique artworks from all over the world in this warehouse, Ye Tian roughly guessed the old guy’s modus operandi.
He must often browse the websites of major museums online, and also pay close attention to the trends in the field of antique art collection, obtain useful information from them, and then choose the target of the crime!
Once the target antique artwork is identified, they will entrust professional art thieves active around the world to steal the target and then hand it over to them.
This method of committing a crime is very safe. As long as you are a little careful, you will basically not reveal your flaws.
In the entire theft process, the price they had to pay was extremely low!
In Europe, the commission fee for stealing a top-notch piece of art will not exceed 100,000 euros at most! This is the price for the most skilled snitches, and the others are even lower!
Once these works of art enter the hands of Thompson, they will definitely lie dormant for a period of time. After the theft is basically calm, they will sell the stolen works of art on the black market for profit!
At that time, what they will get is not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but hundreds of millions of profits, absolutely a profit of ten thousand dollars!
The quiet period usually lasts for seven or eight years. During this process, the prices of these stolen top antiques are also soaring. It can be said to be the best of both worlds!
Throughout the entire process, Thompson should have been the one responsible for identifying the target of the theft, forging the truth, disposing of the stolen goods, and commanding from behind. His identity as a priest was undoubtedly the best cover!
Andrew’s responsibilities are to issue orders, receive goods, transport, etc., while Tillotson and his gang do peripheral chores, and they are also scapegoats who can be thrown out at any time!
Their entire team has a very clear division of labor and acts meticulously and seamlessly.
In addition to entrusting skilled art thieves to directly steal, Thompson and the others are probably also black market buyers, purchasing stolen top-quality art at low prices on the black market.
After many art thieves succeed, they will dispose of the stolen goods as quickly as possible to avoid being targeted by the police. In the end, they will get nothing but jail time!
In this case, the prices of stolen antique artworks are extremely low, most of which are only 5% to 10% of the actual value!
How could Thompson and the others, who were not short of money, let go of this opportunity?
They will definitely buy up stolen antiques and art on the black market, and then transport them to the United States to sell the stolen goods! Make a fortune!
Thinking of this, Ye Tian couldn’t help but secretly give Thompson a thumbs up again!
What a cunning old man! It doesn’t matter if you don’t accept it! ”
Then, he raised his hand to look at the time, and then walked to the next famous painting.