Artwork heists all the time seize the creativeness—simply ask officers on the Musée du Louvre—and the theft of a Rembrandt in 1975 was no exception. On 14 April 1975, Myles Connor entered the Museum of Wonderful Arts (MFA), Boston in disguise together with an confederate. The pair went on to the Dutch Gallery and proceeded to take away Rembrandt’s Portrait of Elsbeth van Rijn from the wall. Connor, an skilled profession felony, ultimately used the Rembrandt as a get-out-of-jail-free card for one more crime, specifically the theft of works by the artist duo Andrew and N.C. Wyeth.
In his new ebook, Anthony Amore delves into Connor’s life and adventures as an artwork thief, outlining why the Rembrandt theft mattered. In addition to being an writer, since 2005 Amore has been the director of safety and the chief investigator on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston—the positioning of some of the famend unsolved artwork thefts in 1990, when 13 works, together with items by Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer and Edgar Degas, had been stolen.
Right here, Amore takes us on a tour of one other notorious heist and shares 5 takeaways from his new publication The Rembrandt Heist.
Anthony Amore Seth Jacobson
1. Beg, borrow or steal
Whereas the inspiration behind almost each artwork heist is cash, Connor’s motivations had been uncommon. As an illustration, he as soon as robbed a museum of dozens of items from its assortment as a result of they’d insulted his father. And the titular heist was not as a result of he hoped to promote or benefit from the Rembrandt portray itself. Reasonably, he needed solely to borrow it for some time. So whereas modern investigators can begin with sure assumptions about main heists, they have to not ignore prospects that don’t match a profile.
2. Skilled artwork thief
The time period “skilled artwork thief” is one thing of a misnomer. Typically, individuals who steal artwork, particularly extremely helpful works, are frequent criminals who steal all method of issues. Museums current a gorgeous goal as a result of they’re the uncommon establishments that maintain enormous belongings and invite the general public in to stand up shut and private with them. Nevertheless, as a result of promoting extremely recognisable works is usually tougher than stealing them, thieves not often do it greater than as soon as. Due to this fact, it isn’t a occupation in any respect. Only a few folks steal masterpieces greater than as soon as as a result of they rapidly study folly of the hassle. This makes Myles Connor one other kind of outlier; by his depend, he robbed greater than 30 museums.
Rembrandt’s Portrait of Elsbeth van Rijn, which Connor stole from the MFA Boston Courtesy of the Leiden Assortment
3.Artwork lover, conman or connoisseur?
Whereas the overwhelming majority of people that steal artwork are usually not, in reality, artwork lovers, Connor could be very educated about artwork and antiques. From a younger age, his maternal grandfather took him to the MFA Boston, instructing him concerning the holdings. Connor’s grandfather was a connoisseur who travelled to Japan typically with intellectuals from New England simply as that nation was opening itself as much as commerce and educating international guests about its tradition. Connor developed an affinity for Asian artefacts that has lasted his whole life. Coveting his personal items to enhance that which his grandfather left to him was on the root of lots of his heists.
4. The best way of the samurai
Although some of the infamous criminals within the historical past of the US, Connor is well-known to abide by a strict honour code, little question impressed by his research of the way in which of the samurai. The code mandates that he won’t ever flip informant; by no means hurt a toddler, a lady, or the aged; by no means steal from a good friend or the needy; and by no means betray or deny a good friend in want. This final bit is a crucial a part of the story of the Rembrandt that he took from MFA Boston. Connor’s lifelong greatest good friend, the music supervisor Al Dotoli, shared this code with him regardless of not being a felony. Reasonably, the friendship resulted in Dotoli’s choice to assist Connor at his biggest second of want regardless of inserting himself and his enterprise in nice peril.
Connor holding one in all his newly acquired swords throughout a lunch with Amore Photograph courtesy of Anthony Amore
5. Path of least resistance
For an individual to be constantly profitable, they have to additionally possess a gradual hand and no scarcity of audacity. Connor typically posed as a PhD pupil and approached museum curators to achieve their confidence. As soon as he completed this, he would discuss his manner into being left alone in a number of assortment storage areas, from which he would pilfer what appealed to him. The trail of least resistance is all the time the one chosen by profitable criminals, and Connor exemplifies this greatest as a result of his sharp mind allowed him to develop strategies for locating that path.
• The Rembrandt Heist, Anthony Amore, Pegasus Books, 272pp, $29.95 (hb)
