01 HISTORICAL DOSSIERS
Still Missing
The artworks still sought. The families still searching.
Explore the cases
Global Archive of Art Theft, Forgery & Restitution
Explore documented cases of stolen art, art forgery, recovery and restitution worldwide, along with related court disputes. Every report links to its source.
Six countries · a global watch
Live clocksArt crime across time zones
Clocks show the time now. Below each clock: the latest documented case in that country from our archive.
Red mark: source-reported theft time. An arc shows a reported time window on the outer 24-hour scale. Only shown where timing is documented.
“Published” is the report date, not the theft date. Cases may cover thefts, recoveries or returns. Click a clock for the case details and source.
Why these six countries? · Data published in 2023
These are the six leading countries in an INTERPOL register snapshot published by a Cornell Data Journal team on 16 December 2023. Counts refer to objects registered as stolen, not theft incidents. This historical snapshot is not a current, comprehensive worldwide ranking.
- France8,133 objects
- Italy7,721 objects
- Turkey3,034 objects
- Iraq2,786 objects
- Belgium2,336 objects
- Netherlands1,756 objects
Published analysis ↗Underlying data table ↗About the INTERPOL register ↗
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All countriesThefts around the world
Art Theft Map
Explore reported theft locations in the archive. Pins are approximate; dates refer to source reports. A historical theft report does not mean the artwork is still missing.
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Choose a pin to see the story and artwork.
Drag to pan; use + / − to zoom. This map shows reports in this archive, not all art thefts worldwide.
Browse the reports on this map (128)
- ArgentinaBronze elements stolen from Güemes monument
- AustraliaStolen Ermenegildo Zegna trophy remains missing despite reward
- AustraliaSparkly Bear sculpture stolen with a truck and crane in Brunswick
- AustraliaSir Joseph Banks memorial sculpture stolen from Canberra gardens
- AustriaPolice investigate disappearance of more than 200 Mozart figures in Salzburg
- AustriaErnst Fuchs Museum increases reward for stolen painting
- AustriaErnst Fuchs’s Daphne bronze missing from Vienna exhibition
- AustriaPierre-Auguste Renoir painting stolen from Vienna’s Dorotheum auction house
- BelgiumRenaissance Madonna stolen from a church in Zele
- BelgiumEnsor, Van Dongen and other works stolen from Van Buuren Museum
- BrazilMatisse and Portinari works stolen from library
- BrazilDalí, Matisse, Monet and Picasso works stolen from Rio museum
- CanadaTimothy Schmalz’s bronze figure of Jesus stolen from Surrey school
- CanadaBronze sculpture valued at about C$175,000 stolen in central Waterloo
- CanadaSecwépemc landmark sculpture stolen from Tappen Bluffs
- CanadaThree Maud Lewis painted Christmas cards reported stolen in Halifax
- CanadaBronze statue of St. Teresa of Avila stolen from Ancaster cemetery
- CanadaRichard Forbes bronze horse head stolen from Vancouver gallery
- CanadaJellyfish sculpture stolen from Calgary’s Beakerhead festival
- CanadaJohn Greer’s bronze Feather stolen from Guelph sculpture park
- CanadaSuzor-Coté oil painting stolen from Halifax gallery
- CanadaGolden egg stolen from Salvador Dalí’s Space Venus
- CanadaA.Y. Jackson landscape stolen from Toronto home
- CanadaBanksy’s Trolley Hunters stolen from Toronto exhibition
- CyprusFilippos Giapanis’s Balance stolen from Cyprus sculpture park
- CyprusBronze sparrow stolen again from Yiota Ioannidou’s Paphos sculpture
- EgyptVan Gogh’s Poppy Flowers stolen in Egypt
- FranceSalvador Dalí bronze book cover stolen
- FranceLouvre jewels added to INTERPOL stolen art database
- FranceThe theft of five masterpieces from the Musée d’Art moderne de Paris
- FranceFernando Botero's Maternity stolen from a Paris gallery
- FranceChinese and Thai artworks stolen from Fontainebleau palace
- FranceA red Picasso sketchbook disappears from the Paris museum
- FrancePicasso paintings stolen from granddaughter’s home
- GermanyLife-size bronze of a seated woman stolen from an Essen cemetery
- GermanyWooden wild boar sculpture stolen from Werl playground
- GermanyHans Arp bronze reported stolen at Art Cologne
- GermanyPolice seek Ernst Sauer’s stolen bronze Der Liegende
- GermanyLife-size bronze woman stolen from a Duisburg family grave
- GermanyPolice seek untitled Elfi Frauendorf work stolen in Berlin
- GermanyPainting of golfers stolen in Berlin burglary
- GermanyIris Ulbricht’s Murmel stolen from Berlin exhibition
- GermanyBronze Pine figure reported stolen in Pirna
- GermanyOil painting stolen from an office in Berlin-Steglitz
- GermanyTwo de Belsunce portraits stolen in Berlin
- GermanyBronze angel sculpture stolen from Rostock cemetery
- GermanyLunita July Dorn painting stolen during Berlin opening
- GermanyRuthild Hahne bronze head stolen in Berlin
- GermanySeven Jean-Noel Schramm watercolours stolen from Berlin hospital
- GermanyNine Itamar Zion Yehiel embroideries stolen in Berlin
- GermanyOil painting of a monk with a jug stolen in Berlin
- GermanyHeinrich Martens bronze girl stolen from Monheim civic centre
- GermanyNeureuther’s 1827 view of Munich stolen from storage
- GermanyCharles Fazzino porcelain apple stolen from a Hamburg gallery
- GermanyErik van Lieshout and Andy Hope 1930 paintings stolen in Berlin
- GermanyBalthasar Lobo’s Mutter mit Kind stolen in Berlin foundry burglary
- GermanyRoland Lindner bronze heron stolen from a Berlin-Frohnau garden
- GermanyTwo Dave the Chimp drawings stolen from Berlin exhibition
- GermanyFrau am Fluss bronze stolen from Duisburg’s Goerdeler Park
- GermanySix sculptures stolen from Bochum’s Stadtpark
- GermanyReinhold Böltzig’s Reifenwerferin stolen from former embassy grounds
- GermanyElena Panknin bronze sculpture stolen during Berlin exhibition opening
- GermanyHeavy bronze seal sculpture stolen from Wilhelmshaven storage yard
- GermanyRichie Culver’s Contemplation stolen from a Berlin auction house
- GermanyLore Plietzsch’s flute-playing children bronze stolen in Berlin
- GermanyPaul van Hoeydonck’s Man in Space stolen from Berlin gallery
- GermanyWilliam N. Copley work stolen from Berlin-Mitte gallery
- GermanyTwo Bruno Bielefeld paintings sought after Berlin residential theft
- GermanyGhada Amer ceramic sculpture taken from a Berlin gallery
- GermanyPolice seek witnesses after Dresden’s Green Vault jewel theft
- GermanyReward campaign seeks Lucian Freud’s stolen Francis Bacon portrait
- Israel27 artworks stolen from the Wilfrid Israel Museum
- IsraelRodin bronze stolen from the Israel Museum
- ItalyFour Renaissance artworks stolen from museum in Messina
- ItalyRenoir, Cézanne and Matisse paintings stolen from private museum
- ItalyThieves take a decoy after police safeguard a Brueghel Crucifixion
- JapanTwo bronze statues stolen from a Tokyo public park
- NetherlandsTwo Andy Warhol prints stolen from gallery
- NetherlandsFrans Hals’s Two Laughing Boys stolen again
- NetherlandsVan Gogh painting stolen from Singer Laren
- NetherlandsSeven works stolen from Kunsthal Rotterdam
- New ZealandKarin de Beer's Tiori Toru stolen from Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre
- New ZealandPrivate reward offered after Harawene dog sculpture theft
- New ZealandTwo Gottfried Lindauer portraits stolen in Auckland gallery ram raid
- South AfricaReward advertised for paintings stolen in Pretoria hijacking
- SwedenDalí sculptures and etchings stolen in Stockholm gallery raid
- SwedenRoyal funeral crowns and orb stolen from Strängnäs Cathedral
- SwitzerlandUp to €1 million advertised for paintings stolen in Valais
- SwitzerlandInsurers consider reward for stolen Lausanne-Vidy museum coins
- United KingdomLipton Cup still missing; arrested man released without charge
- United KingdomCourt summons issued after hedgehog statue theft
- United KingdomClare Haggas’s Making Amends stolen at Cheltenham Festival
- United KingdomBronze deer stolen from outside a Lyndhurst property
- United KingdomTeddy Baldock bronze statue stolen from Langdon Park
- United KingdomMore than 600 objects stolen from Bristol Museums storage
- United KingdomNelson Mandela print stolen from Liverpool’s St George’s Hall
- United KingdomBronze Dalmatian sculpture stolen in Sudbury
- United KingdomAnne Curry bronze sculpture stolen from her garden
- United KingdomDorset Police seek paintings stolen from Lyme Regis art studio
- United KingdomHenry the bronze stag stolen from Alison Cork’s London home
- United KingdomLeaping-woman statue stolen from The Grove Hotel grounds
- United KingdomJapanese bronze hawk incense burner stolen from Alton auction house
- United KingdomSarah Księska’s Präparat stolen during London Frieze week
- United KingdomGrayson Perry’s Alien Baby stolen from Bristol’s Hidden Gallery
- United KingdomTwenty lead statues stolen from a Moreton-in-Marsh estate
- United KingdomBronze lion stolen from Born Free outdoor exhibition in Bristol
- United KingdomChrist Church theft: Van Dyck, Carracci and Rosa
- United KingdomTwo Polly Rome bronze sculptures stolen from a Rockbourne home
- United KingdomMaurizio Cattelan’s gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace
- United KingdomBronze hare statues stolen from a Goodworth Clatford garden
- United KingdomHenry Moore bronze stolen from Glenkiln Sculpture Park
- United KingdomReward advertised after Barbara Hepworth sculpture theft
- United KingdomOver 100 gold boxes and precious objects stolen from Waddesdon Manor
- United StatesPortland police seek stolen miniature horse figurines after arrest
- United StatesKwan Wu’s bronze figure of an Osage woman stolen in Kansas City
- United StatesJeffrey Laudenslager offers reward after kinetic sculpture theft
- United StatesSix paintings stolen in Dallas during transport
- United StatesSalvador Dalí etching stolen from San Francisco gallery
- United StatesThree Kieron Williamson paintings stolen in Arizona
- United StatesVivienne Scholl photograph stolen from Madrone Art Bar
- United StatesChez Tortoni and the works stolen from the Gardner Museum
- United StatesAnn Pibal’s CBLT taken from New York’s Team Gallery
- United StatesGinny: reward advertised for sculpture stolen in 1980
- United StatesSam Tufnell’s Electric Blueberry gnome stolen from Florida museum
- United StatesSeven Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup I prints stolen from Springfield Art Museum
- United StatesReward doubled for Mother and Child sculpture stolen in Eau Claire
- United StatesFBI appeals for Renoir stolen in Houston armed robbery
- United StatesEleven Warhol portraits stolen from a Los Angeles home
The stories behind the art
Explore all stories Stolen. Sought. Found.
2004Oslo, Norway · Recovered in 2006
Daylight, guns and another Scream
This time there was no ladder and no taunting postcard. Armed men entered an open museum while visitors were inside.
Read the story 3 min
2005Perry Green, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom · Missing; police believed it destroyed
Two tonnes vanished. The metal was the danger.
The bronze seemed too heavy to steal. A crane made its weight manageable, and its artistic value may not have mattered to the thieves.
Read the story 3 min
2000Stockholm, Sweden → Copenhagen, Denmark · Recovered and returned
A speedboat, a hotel room and a very small Rembrandt
An armed robbery emptied three spaces in Stockholm. The return took years, several countries and an undercover operation.
Read the story 3 min
HISTORICAL EDITION · 1933–1945
Art, loss & memory
02 HISTORICAL DOSSIERS
Looting & Restitution
Dispossession, long battles and the paths to restitution.
Explore the casesThe upper strip shows details of the featured artworks; the lower strip uses World War II archive photographs as historical context.
Art Wanted · Rewards
87 entries · 88 documented offers · terms apply
Newest additions first · up to ten entries in each group.
Officially advertised offers 59
Official sources checked; terms apply.
Jan Brueghel the Elder · A Garland of Flowers Surrounding a Picture of FloraUp to$15,000Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Jan Brueghel the Elder · Still Life with FlowersUp to$7,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Canaletto · The Riva degli Schiavoni in VeniceUp to$7,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Caravaggio · Portrait of a Young Woman (Fillide Melandroni)Up to$20,000Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Annibale Carracci · Self-PortraitUp to$2,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Cima da Conegliano · Virgin and ChildUp to$2,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Lovis Corinth · Tyrolean with CatUp to$2,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Gustave Courbet · The WaveUp to$15,000Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Lucas Cranach the Elder · Saint GeorgeUp to$7,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
Aelbert Cuyp · Spring Landscape with PoolUp to$2,500Monuments Men and Women FoundationEnds: 2026-12-31
10 of 59 entries · see the full list for the rest.
Published offers · current validity unconfirmed 18
Amounts reported by the cited sources, without confirmation that the offers remain valid.
Heinrich Martens’s bronze girl with a ballUp to€5,000Validity unconfirmed
LeRoy Neiman — Oscar de la Hoya – Shane MosleyAdvertised reward$5,000Centaur Art GalleriesValidity unconfirmed
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts — 1972 theftAdvertised rewardAmount not publishedInsurers, according to Radio Canada InternationalValidity unconfirmed
Giapanis · BalanceAdvertised reward€5,000Validity unconfirmed
Zegna · Gold sheep trophyAdvertised rewardA$15,000Validity unconfirmed
Valais · Chalet theftUp to€1,000,000Validity unconfirmed
Lausanne · Gold coinsUp to€200,000Validity unconfirmed
Ernst Fuchs · ViennaAdvertised reward€30,000Validity unconfirmed
Harawene · RotoruaAdvertised rewardNZ$5,000Validity unconfirmed
Henry · LondonAdvertised reward£1,000Validity unconfirmed
10 of 18 entries · see the full list for the rest.
Archive · recovered works or documented outcomes 10
Historical reward offers; reported returns, recoveries or destruction.
Llew Summers · FlightAdvertised rewardNZ$4,000Archive · see outcome
Amelia Earhart · ReturnedAdvertised rewardCA$25,000Archive · see outcome
Titian · RecoveredAdvertised reward£100,000Archive · see outcome
Picasso · RecoveredAdvertised rewardA$50,000Archive · see outcome
Unkrey · The HammerAdvertised reward$1,000Archive · see outcome
Van Gogh · Two paintingsAdvertised reward€100,000Archive · see outcome
Bührle · RecoveredAdvertised rewardCHF 100,000Archive · see outcome
Goya · Children with a CartUp to$50,000Archive · see outcome
Munch · Two paintingsUp toNOK 2,000,000Archive · see outcome
Cellini · SalieraAdvertised reward€70,000Archive · see outcome
ArtistsAll artists125
232–252 of 764 reports
Massachusetts, United States
Brian Walshe sentenced in counterfeit Warhol scheme
The US Department of Justice announced the sentence in a scheme involving works falsely attributed to Andy Warhol.
Two stolen colonial religious paintings repatriated to Peru — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
New York, United States; Peru
Two stolen colonial religious paintings repatriated to Peru
Manhattan prosecutors announced the return of two colonial paintings following an investigation into stolen religious art. The release describes the repatriation ceremony and identifies the works’ source communities.
New York, United States / Peru
Two paintings stolen from a church near Lake Titicaca returned to Peru
Two eighteenth-century paintings stolen from a church near Lake Titicaca were handed over to Peruvian authorities in New York. The works, including The Pilgrim Virgin, had been offered to auction house Doyle before they were seized. Image: Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
New York City, United States
Stolen Marc Chagall lithograph Eve recovered in New York
New York police recovered Marc Chagall’s 1971 lithograph Eve and returned it to Carlton Fine Arts. The print was taken from the Manhattan gallery in September 2023. Photo of an impression of Eve: Bonhams via Smithsonian magazine.
Larry Philpot’s photograph of Ted Nugent at the center of the dispute. Photo Credit: Larry Philpot of www.soundstagephotography.com · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
Philpot: a Creative Commons photograph and missing credit
A website used Larry Philpot’s photograph of Ted Nugent without the credit required by the license. The appeals court rejected the fair-use ruling and sent the case back.
Kumasi, Ghana
Fowler Museum hands seven royal objects back to the Asante kingdom
Representatives of UCLA’s Fowler Museum handed seven royal objects to Asante king Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in Kumasi. The museum traced four of them to the 1874 looting of the city by British colonial troops. The permanent return included an ornamental chair, a necklace or stool ornament, and an elephant-tail whisk.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Van Praag claim · Fighting Card Players · NK 3533. Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for Fighting Card Players to the Van Praag heirs
The committee linked the October 1941 sale of the anonymous painting NK 3533 to persecution and recommended restitution to the Van Praag heirs.
Ludwigsfelde, Germany
Neureuther’s 1827 view of Munich stolen from storage
Police sought an 1827 oil painting by Eugen Napoleon Neureuther stolen from a removal company’s warehouse in Ludwigsfelde in 2023. Photo: Berlin Police.
New York, United States
New York jury clears Sotheby’s in Rybolovlev art fraud suit
A jury found in favor of Sotheby’s on all counts in Dmitry Rybolovlev’s civil lawsuit. The collector alleged that the auction house had helped dealer Yves Bouvier mislead him about prices in a series of art transactions.
John Opie’s The Schoolmistress with its rightful owner, Francis Wood. FBI. Image source ↗
Newark and Utah, United States
John Opie’s The Schoolmistress returned after more than fifty years
The FBI announced the return of The Schoolmistress to the Wood family on 11 January 2024 after a Utah court determined ownership. The painting was stolen from their Newark home in 1969. This announcement concerns restitution, not a new criminal conviction.
Context photograph: Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, New York. Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United States
McNatt v. Prince: final judgment over a New Portraits image
Eric McNatt challenged the reuse of his portrait of Kim Gordon in Richard Prince’s New Portraits series. The court entered final judgment on the agreed terms, including a restriction on reproducing and distributing the work at issue.
New York, US
Richard Prince copyright suits over New Portraits end in agreed judgments
The copyright suits brought by photographers Donald Graham and Eric McNatt over Richard Prince’s New Portraits series ended in agreed judgments in federal court. The agreements resolved the cases without a trial ruling on fair use. Image shows Richard Prince, photographed by Will Ragozzino.
Charles Fazzino’s stolen porcelain apple, edition 34/99, shown in the police appeal. Image source ↗
Hamburg, Germany
Charles Fazzino porcelain apple stolen from a Hamburg gallery
Hamburg police sought a Charles Fazzino porcelain apple decorated with the New York skyline, stolen from a Große Bleichen gallery during opening hours on 28 October 2023. The signed work bears edition number 34/99 and weighs about five kilograms. The 17 January 2024 appeal reports an investigation, not a recovery or conviction. Photo: Polizei Hamburg.
Tel Aviv, Israel / Antwerp, Belgium
Picasso and Chagall paintings stolen in Tel Aviv found in Antwerp
Belgian police recovered Pablo Picasso’s Tête and Marc Chagall’s L’homme en prière in an Antwerp basement. Both paintings had been stolen from a private home in Tel Aviv in 2010. Photo of the recovered Picasso: Namur prosecutor’s office via Reuters and The Guardian.
Autun, France
Adam and Eve returned to Goudstikker heir
Adam and Eve, attributed to Cornelis van Haarlem, was returned to Marei von Saher, the heir of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker. The painting resurfaced when it was offered as a donation to the Musée Rolin in Autun. Image: Courtesy of Kaye Spiegler.
Rediscovered Rembrandt portraits presented after Rijksmuseum research — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rediscovered Rembrandt portraits presented after Rijksmuseum research
Technical and archival research supported attribution of two small 1635 portraits to Rembrandt and identification of Jan and Jaapgen van der Pluym. The museum announced their long-term loan and display; this is not a theft case.
Four Nepalese antiquities returned, including two Bhairava masks — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
New York, United States; Nepal
Four Nepalese antiquities returned, including two Bhairava masks
Manhattan prosecutors announced a four-object return involving stolen Bhairava masks and a Durga figure. The release distinguishes several trafficking investigations and describes museum cooperation in recovering the objects.
London, United Kingdom
Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus returns to view after conservation
The National Gallery returned the Rokeby Venus to display about four weeks after a hammer attack. Conservators treated minor surface damage and the painting was fitted with new glazing.
Returned Collections exhibition poster, Georgian National Gallery Image source ↗
Tbilisi, Georgia
Still life formerly attributed to Chardin returned to museum
The 29 November 2023 report described a still life stolen in Tbilisi in 1994 and returned in 2023 as a Chardin. The museum’s 2024 exhibition text identifies it as a work by an unknown Russian academic artist, acquired in the 1930s under an attribution to Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin.
Katunayake, Sri Lanka
Lewke’s Cannon and five other looted Kandyan objects return to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka received six objects formerly held by the Rijksmuseum, including Lewke’s Cannon, which is decorated with gold, silver and rubies. Dutch troops looted the weapons during the capture of Kandy in 1765. They were subsequently put on display at the Colombo National Museum.
Leaping-woman statue stolen from The Grove Hotel grounds — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Watford, United Kingdom
Leaping-woman statue stolen from The Grove Hotel grounds
Hertfordshire police released an image of a statue missing from the hotel grounds between 13 and 25 October 2023. The published estimate was about £11,500. Its later whereabouts are not established by the notice.
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The week’s key developments in art theft, forgery, recovery, restitution and the courts. Every Monday.
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