More miscellaneous details

Tag: crime

Rembrandt to Picasso: Five ways to spot a fake masterpiece – BBC Culture

In authenticating the painting in the Burlington Magazine, one expert insisted “in no other picture by the great Master of Delft do we find such sentiment, such a profound understanding of the Bible story – a sentiment so nobly human expressed through the medium of the highest art”. But it was all a lie. In a remarkable twist, Van Meegeren eventually chose to expose himself as a fraudster shortly after the end of World War Two, after being charged by Dutch authorities with the crime of selling a Vermeer – therefore a national treasure – to the Nazi official Hermann Göring. To prove his innocence, if innocence it might be called, and demonstrate that he had merely sold a worthless fake of his own forging, not a real Old Master, Van Meegeren performed the extraordinary feat of whisking up a fresh masterpiece from thin air before the experts’ astonished eyes. Voilà, Vermeer.

art, crime, fakes, paintings, Vermeer, Vincent van Gogh

20/03/2025
The inside story of Blenheim’s gold toilet heist – BBC News

It was the night before, Blenheim chief executive Dominic Hare was at a glamorous exhibition launch party being held at the palace, hosted by Cattelan himself. It was America’s first time on display outside of New York and the artwork’s presence was creating a buzz. He remembers slipping away from the festivities, hoping for a turn on the fully usable toilet. But when confronted with a line, he told himself “that’s okay, there’s no point queuing. You can come back tomorrow and have a look”.

But just a few hours later, his colleague Ms Paice was witnessing the final moments as the 98kg (216lbs) artwork was being heaved into a boot. She recalls a confusing and fast-moving scene: “It was just shadows and quick movement. I just saw them move towards the car, get in the car….and then the car just sped straight off.” From the burglars entering and exiting the courtyard, the audacious heist had taken just five minutes. Police arrived shortly after, and it was only when staff searched the palace they realised what had been stolen.

“That was when… I felt my stomach drop,” Ms Paice says. “And I thought, this is big.” … The stolen gold has never been recovered.

art, crime, Maurizio Cattelan, sculpture

20/03/2025
‘You get desensitised to it’: how social media fuels fear of violence – The Guardian

“Now everyone has seen him running away and his pride is going to make him want to retaliate,” he said. “It will get passed around in group chats and everyone knows that he ran away, so next time he leaves the house he wants to prove himself. That’s what happens. Sometimes the retaliation is filmed.” … “People glamourise them types of things and the smallest thing can be escalated on social media,” he said. “A fight can happen between two people and they can squash it [reach a truce], but because the video’s out there on social media and it looks from a different perspective like one is losing, pride is going to be hurt so you might go out there and get some sort of revenge and let people know, you’re not going to mess with me.”

anxiety, children, crime, social media

26/11/2024