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However, because the ownership of high profile art is easily tracked, potential buyers are very hard to find. Typically, a thief will steal a work, only to find out that there are no buyers. For the same reason, the stolen piece cannot be put on display publicly, which essentially defeats the purpose of having it. Most art is resold at auction house s; major reputable houses such as Sotheby's or Christie's demand proof of art ownership before listing. Many lost art pieces that become found and sold at auction have later been exposed as forgery or imitation.
A likely scenario in famous art theft is "theft for hire" or similar situations in which buyers have already been found. Some buyers may enjoy possessing famous art secretly. Fossil theft is an easier form of purchase as identification techniques are not as well established as art theft.
Perhaps the most famous case of art theft occurred in 1911, when the Mona Lisa was stolen out of the Louvre. It would be two years before it was recovered. Pablo Picasso was among those arrested for questioning.
Two panels of the fifteenth century Ghent Altarpiece, painted by the brothers Jan and Hubert Van Eyck were stolen in 1934, of which only one was recovered shortly after the theft. The other one (lower left of the opened altarpiece, known as De Rechtvaardige Rechters i.e. The Just Judges ), has never been recovered, as the presumable thief ( Arsène Goedertier ), who had sent some anonymous letters asking for ransom, died before revealing the whereabouts of the painting. Going on search for, and unraveling clues about, the stolen panel is still a popular sport in Belgium.
Another highlight of flemish primitive painting was stolen several centuries earlier: Hans MemlingHans Memling (Memlinc) (c. 1430 1494) was a Flemish painter, whose art gave lustre to Bruges in the period of its political and commercial decline. Though much has been written respecting the rise and fall of the school which made this city famous, it rem's Last Judgment altarpiece was commissioned in 1467Events October 29 Battle of Brusthem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege Beginning of the Sengoku Period in Japan. Circa this year, polyalphabetic cipher invented by Leone Battista Alberti. Regent of Sweden Erik Axelsson Tott supports the re-election of depos, and was to become the central art piece in a de'MediciThe Medici family was a powerful and influential Florentine family during the Renaissance, whose wealth and influence initially derived from the textile trade guided by the guild of the Arte della Lana. Becoming first bankers, and later politicians, clerg chapel in FlorenceFlorence ( Italian, Firenze is a city in the center of Tuscany, in north-west Italy, on the Arno river, with a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000. Florence is the capital of the region of Tuscany and briefly ( 18. The ship transporting the painting in 1473Events Ottoman sultan Mehmed II defeats the White Sheep Turkmens lead by Uzun Hasan at Otlukbeli Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan invades the territory of neighboring Aztec city of Tlatelolco. The ruler of Tlatelolco is killed and replaced by a mili was looted by a "pious" pirateThis article is about sea pirates. For other uses see Pirate (disambiguation A pirate is one who robs or plunders at sea without a commission from a recognised sovereign nation. Pirates usually target other ships, but have also attacked targets on shore., offering the painting to the GdanskFor alternative meanings of Gdansk and Danzig, see Gdansk (disambiguation) and Danzig (disambiguation Gdansk (pronounced: Media:Gdansk. ogg|[gdask]]]) is the 6th largest city in Poland, its principal seaport, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodship. cathedral. Although authenticity is undoubted, the story plainly documented, and the now priceless painting one of Memling's greatest masterpieces, some catalogues of the painter's work scarcely mention it. Negotiations with the city of Gdansk to restore the theft keep failing. Nonetheless, the triptych was temporarily shown at a Memling exhibition in Bruges, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the painter's death. The case is famous while it allotted the receivers of the stolen goods as well the profit of owning the art work, the profit of not needing to make any expense for hiding its whereabouts, and the profit of copyright-like earnings (e.g. when lending it for expositions or photography), over an extended period.