[MSN] List of notable art robberies

[MSN]

 List of notable art robberies

The Associated Press
Monday, February 11, 2008

List of art heists:

_ February 2008: Armed robbers steal four paintings by Cezanne, Degas, van
Gogh and Monet worth $163.2 million from the E.G. Buehrle Collection, a
private museum in Zurich, Switzerland.

_ December 2007: Picasso painting valued at about $50 million, along with
one by Brazilian artist Candido Portinari valued at $5 million to $6
million, are stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil, by three
burglars using a crowbar and a car jack. The paintings were later found.

_ February 2007: Two Picasso paintings, worth nearly $66 million, and a
drawing are stolen from the Paris home of the artist's granddaughter in an
overnight heist. Police later recovered the art when the thieves tried to
sell it.

_ February 2006: Around 300 museum-grade artifacts worth an estimated $142
million, including paintings, clocks and silver, are stolen from a 17th
century manor house at Ramsbury in southern England, the largest property
theft in British history.

_ February 2006: Four works of art and other objects, including paintings by
Matisse, Picasso, Monet and Dali, are stolen from the Museu Chacara do Ceu
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by four armed men during a Carnival parade. Local
media estimated the paintings' worth at around $50 million.

_ August 2004: Two paintings by Edvard Munch, "The Scream" and "Madonna,"
insured for $141 million, are stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway,
by three men during a daylight raid. The paintings were recovered nearly two
years later.

_ August 2003: A $65 million da Vinci painting is stolen from Drumlanrig
Castle in southern Scotland after two men join a public tour and overpower a
guide. It was recovered four years later.

_ May 2003: A 16th century gold-plated "Saliera," or salt cellar, by
Florentine master Benvenuto Cellini, valued at $69.3 million, is stolen from
Vienna's Art History Museum by a single thief when guards ignored a burglar
alarm. The figurine is later recovered.

_ December 2002: Two thieves break in through the roof of the Vincent van
Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and steal two paintings by van Gogh valued at $30
million. The men are convicted a year later, but the paintings were not
recovered.

_ October 1994: Seven Picasso paintings worth an estimated $44 million are
stolen from a gallery in Zurich. They are recovered in 2000.

_ April 1991: Two masked armed men take 20 paintings — worth at least $10
million each at the time — from Amsterdam's van Gogh Museum. The paintings
are found in the getaway car less than an hour later.

_ March 1990: In the biggest art theft in U.S. history, $300 million in art,
including works by Vermeer, Rembrandt and Manet, is stolen from the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two men in police uniforms.

_ December 1988: Thieves steal three paintings by van Gogh, with an
estimated value of $72 million to $90 million, from the Kroeller-Mueller
Museum in a remote section of the Netherlands. Police later recover all
three paintings.

_ May 1986: A Vermeer painting, "Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid," is
among 18 paintings worth $40 million stolen from Russborough House in
Blessington, Ireland. Some of the paintings are later recovered.