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 ↗
Explore by country
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
253–273 of 764 reports
Context photograph: The Rolls Building, where the Business and Property Courts sit in London today. Muhammad Karns · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
United Kingdom
THJ Systems: originality in visual risk charts
The dispute concerned copyright in graphical charts produced by options-trading software. The Court of Appeal held that the charts reflected free and creative visual choices and met the originality threshold.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Richard Forbes bronze horse head stolen from Vancouver gallery
The Gallery George reported the theft of a life-size bronze horse head by sculptor Richard Forbes from its Gastown premises on 14 November. The gallery valued the work at about C$20,000. The photo shows another cast of the sculpture, courtesy of Chali Rosso Art Gallery via CityNews.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Jellyfish sculpture stolen from Calgary’s Beakerhead festival
Calgary Police sought the central section of a metal jellyfish sculpture installed for Beakerhead at Millennium Park. The piece was reported missing on 16 September 2023, with its anchor still in the ground. Image: Calgary Police Service via CityNews.
Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Conservation at Princeton reveals a Rubens beneath layers of overpainting
Princeton University Art Museum’s conservation of The Death of Adonis removed discoloured varnish and later overpainting. The treatment brought the appearance of the 1639 painting closer to what Rubens had intended.
Documentary image: FBI. Image source ↗
Chicago, United States; Germany
Lauterer landscape returned to the Bavarian State Painting Collections
The FBI handed over Johann Franz Nepomuk Lauterer’s Landscape of Italian Character in Chicago. The painting had been missing since 1939 and resurfaced in the United States.
Hawk On Stand Koro pictured in ITV’s theft report / Hannam’s Auctioneers, via ITV News. Image source ↗
Alton, United Kingdom
Japanese bronze hawk incense burner stolen from Alton auction house
Hampshire Police appealed after a window was smashed at Hannam’s Auctioneers on 16 October 2023. Two people reportedly left in a blue car with Hawk On Stand Koro by Maruki, a Japanese bronze incense burner. The release describes an active burglary investigation and announces no arrest or recovery.
Medemblik, Netherlands
Six paintings stolen from Medemblik town hall delivered to Arthur Brand
Six historic paintings stolen from Medemblik's former town hall were delivered to art investigator Arthur Brand, NOS reported. The recovered group included portraits of William of Orange and the Frisian king Radbod. Their combined value was estimated at about €100,000. This report records the recovery of the paintings, rather than the later recovery of other objects taken in the same burglary.
Erik van Lieshout and Andy Hope 1930 paintings stolen in Berlin — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Berlin, Germany
Erik van Lieshout and Andy Hope 1930 paintings stolen in Berlin
Police reported three paintings stolen from a Charlottenburg gallery during 27–28 September 2023: an untitled Erik van Lieshout and two Courbette Industria works by Andy Hope 1930. Recovery is not established by this appeal.
Met signs return agreement for two further Nepalese sculptures — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
New York, United States; Nepal
Met signs return agreement for two further Nepalese sculptures
The Met and Nepal signed an agreement for a wooden temple strut and Vishnu flanked by Lakshmi and Garuda. The announcement states that transport was being arranged; it does not establish physical arrival.
Lax̱g̱alts’ap, Canada / Edinburgh, United Kingdom
House of Ni’isjoohl memorial pole returns from Scotland to the Nass Valley
The Nisg̱a’a Nation celebrated the return of the House of Ni’isjoohl memorial pole in September 2023. Commissioned by matriarch Joanna Moody in 1860, the carved pole spent 94 years in Scotland. The image shows a Nisg̱a’a delegation with the pole in Edinburgh before transport.
Los Angeles, California, United States
Stolen Edo-period Buddha sculpture recovered in Los Angeles
Police recovered the bronze Buddha stolen from Barakat Gallery on 18 September. Valued at about $1.5 million, the roughly 250-pound Japanese sculpture dates to the Edo period. A man was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property and subsequently released with a court date. The report did not establish who stole it or announce a conviction.
Royal Collection reattributes Susanna and the Elders to Artemisia Gentileschi — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Windsor and Hampton Court, United Kingdom
Royal Collection reattributes Susanna and the Elders to Artemisia Gentileschi
Royal Collection research and conservation identified a painting long catalogued as French School as Artemisia’s Susanna and the Elders. Inventory evidence and a royal brand helped establish its history.
New York, United States
Seven Egon Schiele works returned to Fritz Grünbaum's heirs
Manhattan prosecutors returned seven Egon Schiele works, collectively valued at more than $9.5 million, to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum. The Austrian Jewish collector and cabaret performer was murdered at Dachau in 1941. The works came from US museum and private collections. This report concerns the seven works restituted at the September 2023 ceremony, not all works claimed by the family.
The Hague, Netherlands
Return advised for Moeyaert painting from the Hamburger collection
The Dutch committee recommended returning Nicolaes Moeyaert’s God Appearing to Abraham at Sichem from the Netherlands Art Property Collection in the Herman Hamburger case. Image: Museum Catharijneconvent.
The Hague, Netherlands
Return advised for Bakker Korff’s The Aunts Go on a Journey
The Dutch committee recommended that Alexander Hugo Bakker Korff’s watercolour be returned to the heirs of Jacob Lierens. Image: Rijksmuseum Twenthe.
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Rotterdam restitution opinion covers an ivory Virgin and Child
The Dutch committee advised Rotterdam to return the anonymous Hodegetria relief held by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in the Kunsthaus Drey case.
Cambodia and United States
33 Khmer antiquities returned to Cambodia
The collection included sculptures looted from religious and archaeological sites at Angkor Wat and Koh Ker. The family holding them agreed voluntarily to their return.
Laren, Netherlands
Stolen Singer Laren Van Gogh recovered
The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring was recovered through Arthur Brand more than three years after its March 2020 theft. The Groninger Museum confirmed its return.
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
John Greer’s bronze Feather stolen from Guelph sculpture park
The University of Guelph reported the theft of Feather, a 2.4-metre bronze crow feather commissioned for the Art Gallery of Guelph and installed in Donald Forster Sculpture Park. John Greer made the work in 1997. Photo of the sculpture: University of Guelph via Global News.
Los Angeles, United States
Basquiat case update: community service and probation for Barzman
Following his plea, Michael Barzman received three years’ probation, 500 hours of community service and a fine. This updates the April 2023 proceedings.
Nicholas Hatch unloading artworks; court documents / The Art Newspaper Image source ↗
Connecticut, United States
Guilty plea in fake Peter Max painting scheme
An estate-sales operator pleaded guilty to mail fraud after marketing paintings he knew were not by Peter Max with false authenticity claims. Sentencing was pending at publication.
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The week’s key developments in art theft, forgery, recovery, restitution and the courts. Every Monday.
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