Chapter 540: Top art thieves
The shooting continued, and Ye Tian's brief explanation and precise identification continued.
"This is one of Van Gogh's masterpieces from the famous Dutch painter and pioneer of post-impressionism in the 19th century, "The Congregation of Nuenen Leaving the Reformed Church".
In 2000, this famous painting was stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and another Van Gogh painting was also stolen, "Scheveningen Beach".
That famous painting is also here, you will see it later! These two famous paintings were estimated at £25 million at the time, but that was only the lowest estimate given by the museum and did not meet the market value!
Over the past ten years or so, their value has already 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!
Soon after the theft, the two suspects were arrested by the police, but these two famous paintings have disappeared. There has been no news for more than ten years, and they seem to have completely disappeared!
But who could have imagined that they were smuggled to the United States and hidden here, it is incredible! Obviously, today is a lucky day for the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam!
Now that they have been discovered, I believe they will soon appear in front of the public. It will not be long before everyone will be able to appreciate the artistic charm of these two top oil paintings again in the museum! "
After introducing the two works of Van Gogh, Ye Tian pointed his mobile phone camera at another famous painting.
"This is a masterpiece, "Portrait of the Medici" by Rubens, an outstanding representative of Baroque art and a Flemish painter in the seventeenth century.
In 2008, this famous painting was stolen from a private museum in Denmark. At the same time, the famous Spanish romantic painter, Goya's masterpiece, "The Madman" was also stolen.
Like the other top famous paintings highlighted before, these two paintings are both world-class masterpieces, with very high artistic value and market value,..."
In a blink of an eye, another top famous painting appeared on the phone screen.
Ye Tian's professional explanation and appraisal will immediately follow!
"I believe that many people know the painting in front of you. This is the famous Spanish cubist painter, founder of modern art, and Picasso's "The Pigeon and the Pea".
This famous painting was stolen at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2010. According to legend, this famous painting has been completely destroyed. I did not expect to see it here. I was so lucky!
It can be seen from the video image that this famous painting is in good condition and no traces of restoration can be seen. It can be seen that the rumor is just a smoke bomb released by the art robber! ..."
"What appears in front of everyone at this moment is an abstract expressionist painting, from the soul of abstract expressionism, William De Kooning, this is one of his representative works!
This is a stolen painting that was stolen at the Art Museum of Chicago in 2009. At the same time, there are several famous impressionist paintings. It is a pity that I did not see those famous paintings! ..."
After abstract expressionism, another artistic style of painting appeared on the phone screen immediately!
After a short pause, Ye Tian's voice immediately sounded again!
"This is one of the representative works of Modigliani, a famous painter of the Paris School, known as the'Prince of Montparnasse', "The Woman Holding a Fan".
Like "The Pigeon and the Pea", this famous painting was also stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and actually appeared here. It seems that art thieves are very fond of this museum in Paris.
You may remember that not long ago, Sotheby's New York took another famous painting by Modigliani, "The Fruit Girl Lying on the Side".
These two paintings are both at the peak of Modigliani's work, regardless of the same age, and the creation time is very close, even the model is the same woman, Modigliani's lover.
At the Sotheby’s auction in New York, the "Fruit Girl Lying on the Side" sold for a sky-high price of 170 million US dollars, so how much is this painting worth? You can imagine it! ?
Time flies quickly, an hour in the blink of an eye.
Speaking of his dry mouth and throat smoking, Ye Tiancai had to stop, ready to rest for a while, and then continue to fight!
At this time, he only shot less than half, and there are still many antique artworks in the warehouse waiting to be shot!
This is the result of deliberately speeding up the shooting!
For some of the paintings of average popularity and not very high value, as well as all the prints, sketches, sketches, etc., he just briefly introduces whose works, and then walks by, in order to save time as much as possible!
If you don't do this, and each antique artwork is introduced in detail, I am afraid that even a third of it will not be finished!
Even so, the shooting speed was still too slow, making Ye Tian a little anxious!
The longer I stay here, the more dangerous it is, and the higher the chance of being spotted by the old Thompson guy.
Surveillance video is one aspect, and the consumption of portable generators and batteries is also a problem. If the power consumption increases too much, the old guy may become suspicious.
There are air conditioners and humidifiers that operate 24 hours a day, and they 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 through!
In addition, if the shooting time is too long, the phone battery may not be able to support it.
Ye Tian raised his hand to check the time, and then quickly made a decision.
In the next shooting, if it is not a very important artwork, try to be as concise as possible, only introduce the name, the author, and give the appraisal conclusion, and nothing else!
This will definitely increase the speed a lot and complete the shooting as soon as possible.
You know, there is a lighted room next door. It is not yet known whether it is a warehouse where artworks are displayed or a private studio.
In addition, set aside some time for perspective exploration and find other hidden channels!
If you find it, maybe you have to go in and explore it.
While resting, Ye Tian also admired the many top antique artworks in front of him, with an intoxicated expression on his face!
In his heart, he secretly sighed with emotion!
This old guy Thompson is really too big! It is definitely one of the biggest and craziest international art thieves in the world!
Once the many antique artworks in this warehouse are released, they will surely shock the world and shock the entire antique art collection field!
And Thompson, this old guy, will instantly become a celebrity, notorious! What he has done in the past 30 years is enough to make everyone stunned!
In the field of art crime, there are few guys crazier than him, he is definitely rare!
The last such crazy art thief should be Frenchman Stefan Breiwitzer.
That guy stole 239 works of art and other exhibits from 172 museums in Europe in six years, stolen once every fifteen days, very crazy!
It wasn't until 2001 that he was caught during the theft at the Wagra Museum in Switzerland. The most efficient art thief in history ended his legendary art theft career!
Since then, there has never been such a crazy art thieves!
But who could have imagined that such a top art thief was hidden in Boston, and it was hidden so deeply that it had not revealed any flaws for thirty years!
In this regard, Thompson is obviously much better than Breiitzer, and can throw that guy out of eight streets!
In addition, there are some differences between the two top art thieves.
Brewitzer is very passionate about art and wants to have his favorite artworks, so he went to major European museums to steal!
He called himself an art connoisseur, and loved the works of masters from the 16th to the 17th century. The main target of theft was the famous artworks of this period.
The results of the police investigation later proved that what he said was true.
He keeps all the stolen famous paintings at home and enjoys it alone! He has treasured every famous painting he stolen, and his appreciation level is no worse than that of art appraisal experts!
Breiwitzer usually spends a lot of time with his ‘collections’ and never thought of selling them for profit. He even burns down the forgeries he has identified to maintain the purity of art!
Thompson is on the contrary. He steals top antique artworks, not because of his love for art, all purpose is for money, simple and rude!
In this regard, his realm is much worse than Brevitzer, and he has been dumped more than eight streets!
In the way of doing things, the two styles are also very different, far apart!
Breiwitzer likes to do it by himself, all antique art is stolen by himself, and he can be regarded as a top art thief with bold art!
Thompson was on the contrary. Except for the Gardner Museum, he would not end up in any other art theft cases in person. Instead, he would hide and direct in the dark. It can be said to be very cunning, an old fox!
From the top antique art stolen 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 on the Internet and pay close attention to the trends in the field of antique art collections to obtain useful information from them, and then choose the target of the crime!
Once the target antique artwork is determined, they will entrust professional art thieves active all over the world to steal the fancy target and give it to them.
This modus operandi is very safe, as long as you are a little careful, you will basically not show your feet.
During the whole theft process, the price they need to pay is extremely low!
In Europe, the commission fee for the theft of a top art artwork will not exceed 10 euros! This is the price of the most skillful Snitch, the others are even lower!
Once these artworks enter Thompson's hands, they must be silent for a while. After the theft case is basically calm, they will take the stolen artworks on the black market and sell them for profit!
At that time, what they get is not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but tens of millions of dollars in profits, absolutely a huge profit!
The quiet period is usually seven or eight years. In the process, the prices of these stolen top antique artworks are also soaring, which is the best of both worlds!
Throughout the process, Thompson should be the person responsible for determining the target of the theft, falsifying, selling the stolen goods, and hiding in the dark. His pastor status is undoubtedly the best cover!
Andrew's responsibilities are to issue orders, receive goods, transport, etc., while Tillerson's horses do some peripheral chores, and they are also scapegoats that can be thrown out at any time!
Their entire team has a very clear division of labor ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ and they are careful and seamless.
In addition to entrusting clever art thieves to steal directly, Thompson and the others are probably also black market buyers, buying stolen top art at low prices on the black market.
After many art thieves succeed, they will dispose of the stolen goods as quickly as possible, so as not to be spotted by the police. In the end, the bamboo basket was completely wiped out, and they went to jail!
In this case, the prices of those stolen antique artworks are extremely low, most of which are only 5% to 10% of the actual value!
For Thompsons who are not short of money, how can they miss this opportunity?
They will definitely buy stolen antique artworks on the black market and then ship them to the United States for sale! Make a fortune!
Thinking of this, Ye Tian couldn't help but give Thompson a thumbs up again!
What a cunning cunning! Not accept it! "
Then, he raised his hand to check the time, and then walked to the next famous painting.
