[MSN] Museum theft. Art theft of the 90s partially solved. Fully restored, paintings by Lucas Cranach the Younger and Jacob van Ruisdael are back in Tbilisi

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

riday, February 3, 2006, #023 (1043)

Art theft of the 90s partially solved
Fully restored, paintings by Lucas Cranach the Younger and Jacob van
Ruisdael are back in Tbilisi
By Nino Gvalia

Georgia’s National Museum of
Art, with a poster of ‘Matchmaker’

This is not a scenario for a detective movie, but a real event that took
place in Tbilisi in 1994. This was a time of poverty, chaos and unpaid
salaries and the precious collection at the Shalva Amiranashvili National
Museum of Art was guarded by only three policemen.

Late one summer night, a group of thieves slipped into the museum, disarmed
the guards and began searching for paintings to steal. These robbers had
good taste and even in the darkness they were easily able to pick out the
collection's most valuable works.

A still-life by the French artist Jean Siméon Chardin (1699-1779);
"Matchmaker" (1530) by the German early Renaissance master Lucas Cranach the
Younger; and "Waterfall" (1664) by the celebrated Dutch landscape artist
Jacob van Ruisdael all disappeared that night.

As Gia Marsagishvili, director of the National Museum recalls, "I was not a
director at that time, but I remember well that the government made efforts
to recover these masterpieces."

Lado Badagadze, the chief policemen and investigator on the case worked
tirelessly to find traces of the stolen paintings; "He was coming three or
four times a week to the museum," Marsagishvili remembers.

Time passed and the memory of the theft began to fade - there were, after
all, more pressing concerns.

Finally in 2004 - 10 years after the crime had been committed -
Marsagishvili received a call from Inspector Badagadze, summoning him to an
abandoned marriage license office on the banks of the Mtkvari.

As he approached the building, Marsagishvili remembers that he "could feel
that something was going on," and when he entered he was greeted by
Ruisdael's "Waterfall."

The next day museum representatives were again contacted by Badagadze who
called them to his office. According to Marsagihvili, they entered the room
and the policeman pointed to a box and told them to open it. "We opened the
box and, to our great surprise, we discovered 'Matchmaker,'" Marsagishvili
recalls.

The policeman had returned two of the three stolen works, but he refused to
say anything about how he had found them or who might have been responsible
for their disappearance.

While the thieves may have been able to recognize valuable art, they clearly
did not know how delicate paintings should be cared for. Unfortunately, both
paintings had been stored in a damp place, and both the canvasses were
scratched and deteriorating. "The paintings were back, but before we could
enjoy a truly happy ending, they needed to be fully restored," Marsagishvili
explained.

And quality art restoration is not cheap.

As Cranach the Younger is considered the pride of the early Renaissance in
Germany, the Georgian Ministry of Culture, Sport and Monument Preservation
applied to the German Embassy for support in restoring the paintings.

In addition, Maia Panjikidze, the Georgian Ambassador to Germany met Uwe
Schneede, the director of the Hamburg Art Museum, to ask the museum for
technical assistance.

With the help of Schneede and the art restoration expert Hyma Roskamp, two
Georgian restorers, Evelina Karseli and Nunu Managadze, received six-month
scholarships and were sent - along with the paintings - to the restoration
school at the Hamburg Museum to work on "Matchmaker" and "Waterfall".

After these adventures, the professionally restored masterpieces were
finally returned to the Georgian National Museum at the end 2005. As the
paintings require a specific warm and dry climate, they are currently being
stored in a special room which is not open to the public, but as soon as it
gets warmer, art-lovers will have a chance to behold these canvases in the
exhibition hall.

As Marsagishvili told The Messenger, the museum is now very well guarded,
and he advises burglars not to risk stealing anything because they will
probably be caught.

http://www.messenger.com.ge/