This dossier brings together a drawing recovered after a hotel theft in California and separate investigations into the authorship of paintings associated with Rembrandt. The Rijksmuseum’s attribution research, the Mauritshuis’s reassessments and the police seizure of suspected forgeries address different questions about the works.
9 reports · Source dates: 16 Aug 2011 — 2 Mar 2026
Each entry reflects its source on the stated date. A historical theft report does not mean a work remains missing. Attributions, allegations and decisions remain distinct; this dossier does not authenticate artworks.
Not documented in this record: distinguishing features.
Wertheimer and Colnaghi bought it from Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum — P21s24 ↗ · checkedIsabella Stewart Gardner bought it from Colnaghi, through Bernard Berenson.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum — P21s24 ↗ · checkedOnly stages supported by the cited sources are shown. This list is not a complete chain of ownership.
Not documented in this record: inscriptions & markings · distinguishing features.
Anna Jaffé collection, Nice, inherited after her husband John’s death.
Monuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checkedLot 133 in the forced sale at Hôtel Savoy, Nice; subsequent whereabouts unconfirmed.
Monuments Men and Women Foundation ↗ · checkedOnly stages supported by the cited sources are shown. This list is not a complete chain of ownership.
Identification details follow the Object ID categories where documented. Ownership history is recorded separately; this documentation is not an authentication or a certificate of ownership.
After two years of research, the Rijksmuseum attributed Vision of Zacharias in the Temple to Rembrandt. The painting had fallen out of the accepted body of his work in 1960 and re-emerged from a private collection.
Bavarian police reported raids in three countries on 15 October in an investigation into attempted organised art fraud. Twenty suspected forgeries were seized. A copy of Rembrandt's De Staalmeesters had allegedly been offered for 120 million Swiss francs, although the original is in the Rijksmuseum. Eleven people were under investigation; expert examinations were continuing, and no conviction was announced.
The Mauritshuis presented new technical and conservation research on three paintings. It retained its studio-copy attribution for Portrait of Rembrandt with a Gorget, attributed Study of an Old Man to the studio despite a likely genuine signature, and left the authorship of Tronie of an Old Man open. The accompanying image shows the studio copy with the gorget.
Carabinieri investigating online art sales reported seizing 71 counterfeit works attributed to artists including Pablo Picasso and Rembrandt. At a workshop in northern Rome they found works in progress, false gallery stamps and forged authenticity certificates. Photo shows Carabinieri inspecting the workshop.
After five years of research and the re-stretching of the canvas, eight Rijksmuseum conservators began removing varnish from The Night Watch. The work took place in a glass enclosure in the gallery, allowing visitors to observe the treatment.
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.
The Allentown Art Museum displayed Portrait of a Young Woman as a work by Rembrandt after conservation and scientific examination. The 1632 portrait had previously been assigned to his studio.
Thirteen objects, including Édouard Manet’s Chez Tortoni and works by Rembrandt and Vermeer, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on 18 March 1990. The museum’s official theft page confirms the investigation remains active and the objects missing. Individuals’ suspected connections to the theft are not treated here as established facts.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported finding the drawing in a church in the San Fernando Valley after it disappeared from a hotel exhibition.
