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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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
610–630 of 764 reports
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Levie collection · Two works · NK 1978 and NK 2729. Image source ↗
Netherlands
Two paintings returned to the heirs of Sam Bernhard Levie
The committee recommended returning two works, NK 1978 and NK 2729, to the Levie heirs. The heirs’ representative documents their return and identifies Amsterdam Town Hall as a copy after Gerrit Berckheyde.
Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington. Public domain. Image source ↗
Wuppertal, Germany
Netscher’s Woman Feeding a Parrot returned to the Andriesse heirs
The Nazis confiscated the painting from Hugo and Elisabeth Andriesse’s collection. It entered the Von der Heydt Museum in 1952 and was returned to their heirs in 2014.
New York, United States
Sotheby’s agrees to return a Koh Ker warrior statue to Cambodia
Sotheby’s withdrew a Khmer warrior statue from a 2011 sale after Cambodia requested its return. The United States then sought forfeiture. Sotheby’s and the consignor agreed to return the statue under a December 2013 settlement, and it was handed over in 2014.
Venlo, Netherlands
Return advised for Van Goyen landscape formerly owned by Gustaaf Hamburger
The Dutch committee recommended returning Landscape with Beggars and Two Horsemen by a Ruin, NK 2782, then on loan to the Limburgs Museum. Image: Limburgs Museum.
Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey
30 stolen paintings seized in Turkish raids
Reporting on the Ankara painting and sculpture museum investigation described seizures of works by Turkish and Ottoman artists from galleries and warehouses.
New York, United States
Christie’s sold a fake Rothko linked to the Knoedler affair
A purported Mark Rothko sourced through Glafira Rosales and Knoedler failed to sell at Christie’s auction in 2009 and was later sold privately through Christie’s. Its claimed provenance was invented, and Rosales later acknowledged that the work was fake. Image: Christie’s New York saleroom, via Wikimedia Commons. Christie’s said it cancelled the sale and reimbursed the buyer.
Glenkiln, Scotland, United Kingdom
Henry Moore bronze stolen from Glenkiln Sculpture Park
Henry Moore’s Standing Figure (Knife Edge) was reported stolen from the open-air sculpture park in Dumfries and Galloway. Photo: Alamy via The Guardian.
Glafira Rosales, pictured in the report on her guilty plea. Image source ↗
New York, United States
Glafira Rosales pleads guilty in Abstract Expressionist forgery scheme
Glafira Rosales pleaded guilty in a scheme involving forged works attributed to Abstract Expressionist artists. Prosecutors said sales exceeded $80 million. This report records the guilty plea; sentencing had not yet taken place.
London, United Kingdom
Consignor admits false provenance for Egyptian objects offered by Bonhams and Christie’s
Neil Kingsbury pleaded guilty in 2013 to misrepresenting the provenance of Egyptian antiquities. Christie’s withdrew six pieces and contacted authorities after they were linked to Egyptian material. Kingsbury acknowledged previous sales through both Bonhams and Christie’s. Photo: a granite relief fragment linked to the case, via Trafficking Culture.
Museum exterior: Van Buuren Museum; Flemish Art Collection Image source ↗
Brussels, Belgium
Ensor, Van Dongen and other works stolen from Van Buuren Museum
Card dated to the incident described in the source: a burglary taking paintings including James Ensor’s Shrimps and Shells.
Mother and Child, the bronze stolen from Sculpture Tour Eau Claire in 2013. Volume One / organiser photograph. Image source ↗
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States
Reward doubled for Mother and Child sculpture stolen in Eau Claire
Sculpture Tour Eau Claire raised its reward from $1,000 to $2,000 for information leading to recovery of the bronze Mother and Child. The sculpture was stolen from the outdoor exhibition on 25 May 2013. Current validity of the offer is unconfirmed.
California, United States
Collector sues Sotheby’s over a Van Loo once owned by Göring
Steven Brooks sued over a Louis-Michel van Loo painting bought at Sotheby’s. He alleged the auction house should have disclosed that Hermann Göring had owned it and said the possibility of Nazi-era looting affected its resale. Image: Sotheby’s New York premises, via Wikimedia Commons.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst · The Landing Stage · Semmel collection. Image source ↗
Groningen, Netherlands
Binding opinion backs return of The Landing Stage in the Semmel case
A binding opinion backed the return of The Landing Stage by Maerten Fransz. van der Hulst from the Groninger Museum. The painting was previously attributed to Jan van Goyen.
Paris, France
Hopi representatives oppose sales of sacred katsinam in Paris
Hopi representatives and Survival International sought to stop the sale of sacred katsinam by Néret-Minet in April 2013. The Paris court rejected the emergency request and the sale proceeded. Related auctions faced further challenges in 2013 and 2014. Photo: Hôtel Drouot, ZeusUpsistos via Wikimedia Commons.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Margraf Group · Chastity with Two Putti · BK-1955-98. Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for the Oppenheimer tapestry Chastity with Two Putti
The committee linked the sixteenth-century tapestry BK-1955-98 to the Margraf Group and a forced sale. It recommended restitution to the Oppenheimer heirs.
New York, United States
Christie’s withdraws four Nepalese manuscript covers
Christie’s withdrew four painted wooden manuscript covers before a New York auction. Scholars matched them to an inventory of the National Archives in Kathmandu. One is the twelfth-century cover of a Shivadharmasangraha manuscript.
Case diagram by ArtTraceX · Hamburger collection · Ceramic dishes · NK 223, 444, 575. Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for three Hamburger collection ceramic dishes
The committee recommended returning three glazed ceramic dishes, NK 223, NK 444 and NK 575, after provenance researchers alerted a member of the Hamburger family.
Context photograph: The John Joseph Moakley Courthouse, seat of the First Circuit in Boston. ajay_suresh · CC BY 4.0 · Resized and cropped for display
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United States
Harney v. Sony: recreating a news photograph
A television film recreated a news image showing a father carrying his daughter on his shoulders. The court held that the recreation shared factual elements with the photograph but lacked substantial similarity in protectable expression.
The Hague, Netherlands
Ferdinand Bol portrait singled out in Katz dealership claim
The Dutch committee recommended returning Man with High Cap, NK 1668, to the heirs of Benjamin and Nathan Katz. Its advice rejected restitution of the other 188 works in the application. Image: MuseumgoudA.
The Hague, Netherlands
Return advised for Van Brekelenkam’s Interior with Card Players
The Dutch committee recommended restitution of the Quiringh van Brekelenkam painting listed in the Netherlands Art Property Collection as NK 2924. Image: Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE).
Jan Steen, River Landscape with Figures and a Wagon by a Tower, NK 2655 · RCE / Wikimedia Commons Image source ↗
Netherlands
Return advised for Jan Steen’s river landscape to the Mautner heirs
The committee advised returning Jan Steen’s River Landscape with Figures and a Wagon by a Tower, NK 2655, to Wilhelm Mautner’s heirs.
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