Samsung: stolen works of art return to The Frame
Missing Masterpieces
“Missing Masterpieces ”is the name of this virtual collection available in 29 European countries, including Italy. Starting November 12, for the duration of 3 months, art lovers will be able to bring these paintings to their The Frame and participate in the research on these lost unique pieces.Before starting to work on a puzzle , you want to pick up all the pieces, right? The same goes for a crime or a mysterious disappearance. From contradicting media reports to speculation in Reddit feeds, the clues are out there, but the sheer amount of information can be daunting. This is where technology and social media can be of real help, allowing ordinary people to participate in research. It would not be the first time that a naive tip published online proves the key to solving a case
Noah Charney, expert on art crimes and founder of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA)
The following are the portraits that are part of the initiative according to the description provided by the project, in which Samsung takes part in this curious, as well as stimulating, initiative for the promotion of the exceptional The Frame line. All the details on the operation, however, are here.
Garden of the rectory in Nuenen in spring, or "Spring Garden" (1884) Artist: Vincent van Gogh, Netherlands
Last sighting: Netherlands
While living with his parents, Van Gogh painted this view of the back garden of his paternal rectory in March 1884. The style and colors identify it as one of his earliest works. An old church in the distance, a woman dressed in black walking away, stepping back and looking towards the house. The rectory and the garden still survive in Nuenen, the Netherlands, but the painting disappeared on March 30, 2020, in a surprise theft on the occasion of Van Gogh's 167th birthday. It has not yet been found, but hopefully it may be there. a happy ending.
Portrait of Doctor Gachet Artist: Vincent van Gogh, Netherlands
Last sighting: USA
Portrait of Doctor Gachet is one of Van's most famous works Gogh. Van Gogh and the doctor became friends in 1888, when the artist went to an asylum after an exhaustion during which he had cut off part of his ear. At first, Van Gogh did not get along with Gachet, so much so that he wrote in a letter to his brother Theo: "He is sicker than me ... when a blind person leads another blind man, don't they both fall into a ditch?". But two days later, in a letter to his sister, he said something else: "I found a true friend in Dr. Gachet ... we are so much alike both physically and mentally". This can be seen in the portrait, which bears some physical resemblance to the artist.
On May 15, 1990, Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito bought it for $ 82.5 million, declaring in followed by wanting to be cremated with it on his death. Today it is believed to be in a private Swiss collection, but there are no traces since 1990.
The painter on the road to Tarascon Artist: Vincent van Gogh, Netherlands
Last sighting: Germany
This 1888 oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, possibly a self-portrait made during his time in Arles, shows the technique for which Van Gogh is best known: his intense use of oil painting, greasy and almost sculptural. This work is thought to have been accidentally destroyed by an Allied bomb during a World War II air raid while in the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum in Magdeburg, Germany.
Van Gogh's masterpieces were often stolen, particularly in the Netherlands. In 1991, 20 works were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, for an estimated total value of approximately $ 500 million. In 2002, a couple of Van Gogh's paintings were stolen from the same museum and found near Naples in 2016 in the home of a mob boss.
White duck Artist: Jean Baptiste Oudry, France
Last sighted: UK
Oudry was known as Louis XV's court painter. He mainly made portraits, but his passion was still lifes with fruit and animals. With an estimated value of $ 8 million, this 19th-century still life was stolen from the Marquis of Cholmondeley collection at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, England in 1992.
Some investigators believe it has passed into hands of a band of gypsies based in the region. Thieves often steal, trusting in the fact that they can then find an art collector, a criminal, to whom they can resell the works, a bit like you see in the movies. But instead of hanging on the living room wall of some malefactor, a former police informant revealed that the painting was hidden in the attic of a dilapidated house on the moors outside Newcastle. It has not yet been found.
View of Auvers-sur-Oise Artist: Paul Cezanne, France
Last sighting: UK
Cézanne was one of the revolutionaries in the history of art, which gave birth to a new and different style compared to the previous one, inspiring subsequent generations. Particularly adept at distorting perspective for a dramatic effect, as depicted in this landscape study of a group of rural houses.
The thieves took advantage of the 1999 New Year celebrations to climb up to the roof through the scaffolding adjacent to the museum where the painting was kept, breaking through a glass skylight, lowering a rope ladder hiding with a smoke bomb. Once inside, a portable fan released smoke to obscure the CCTV cameras. The alarm went off, but the smoke tricked the security staff into thinking there was a fire, so they called the fire brigade rather than intervene, giving the thieves plenty of time to escape.
The Last Judgment (1808) Artist: William Blake, UK
Last sighting: UK
A multifaceted and mystical character of British art, William Blake was a brilliant painter, publisher and more ... his poem is still read by students all over the world ("Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright").
Inspired by Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" fresco in the Sistine Chapel, Blake's huge lost painting shows the dead who rise to be sent forever to Heaven or Hell. He claimed to have been subject to "visions" all his life, many of his paintings and poems were the manifestation of this. In this version of the 1808 painting, the figures are allegorical, and were probably made in bright colors. The work was to be the main piece of his great exhibition, in 1810: the exhibition was canceled and this, along with many other works to be exhibited, was lost.
Estate (c. 1644) Artist: David Teniers the Younger, Netherlands
Last sighting: Portugal
Allegory in art is the rhetorical figure for which a figure or symbol represents a concept. The study of symbols in art, called iconography, treats images as visual riddles. The artist wants the viewer to engage in a proactive way and try to decipher the meaning of the work of art.
"Summer" is taken from a series of Allegories of the Four Seasons, four paintings by the artist Dutch David Teniers the Younger, best known for painting bizarre scenes in taverns. This allegorical sequence is a sober beginning: the farmers are seen harvesting wheat on a hot day, a collective image that refers to summer. Teniers painted several versions of the series; however, one of these was stolen from the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Portugal in 1974 and the search to recover it is still ongoing.
Charing Cross Bridge and Waterloo Bridge (1899-1904) Artist : Claude Monet, France
Last sighting: UK, Romania, Netherlands
Monet painted 37 versions of the Charing Cross Bridge and at least 40 versions of the Waterloo Bridge. He was fascinated by pictorial studies on the influence of light on his subjects, and returned to them repeatedly, capturing various seasons, each with subtle differences. The versions in question are two of the paintings stolen in October 2012 at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. The mother of one of the convicted thieves said “Waterloo Bridge” was among the stolen paintings she had burned in her stove in Romania in a horrifying attempt to destroy the evidence against her son. The police have found traces of pigment in the stove, but not enough to verify his claims.
Landscape (1917) Artist: József Lampérth Nemes, Hungary
Last sighting: Hungary
This stunning landscape painting by Hungarian artist József Lampérth Nemes is one of two privately owned works that disappeared from a warehouse at the MODEM Center for Modern and Contemporary Art in Debrecen, Hungary. Art thefts tend to be imagined as those seen in the cinema, and there are many examples that fit this rather romantic idea. With tens of thousands of art thefts reported each year (not to mention unreported ones), archives and warehouses are widespread targets, as it could be months before anyone notices.
However, they do require specialized knowledge to locate the target and then direct the blow. A theft like this suggests that thieves knew in advance what to look for. While the theft of commissioned works of art is extremely rare, in a case like this it is a hypothesis.
Mythological scene with a young Bacchus Artist: Jacob Jordaens, Belgium (Archive photo by Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź)
Last sighting: Poland
This painting by the famous Flemish Grand Master Jacob Jordaens was one of thousands stolen from Poland during the Second World War. Jordaens was hugely influenced by Rubens, from a previous generation but also from Antwerp, and this emerges from many aspects of Jordaens' works. In this work, Bacchus, the god of agriculture, wine and fertility, is depicted as a child surrounded by Maenads (female nymphs) and Satyrs (half man and half goat).
The collections of cultural heritage unusually wealthy Poles were decimated by the Russian Red Army and the Nazi art theft unit, the ERR. While many have been recovered, many others have been lost, like this Jordaens. Taken from the JK Bartoszewicz Museum of History and Art in Lodz, its location is still unknown.
Chloe & Emma Artist: Barbora Kyslikova, Czech Republic
Last sighting: Norway
Shortly after Barbora Kyslikova moved to Oslo, some of her most important works were stolen. His masterpieces became world famous only recently, when his documentary film, “The Painter and the Thief”, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. It's the true story of how he met and developed the improbable. friendship with a young man who had stolen her paintings.
Her works, large and photorealistic, had an audience limited to her Norway. That was until the release of the acclaimed film, which means that their theft was more likely a gesture of passion and not an attempt to profit. Most of the works of art are stolen by thieves who know nothing about art and see it only as a commodity of great value. This case is also unusual in that the thieves have been arrested but claim they do not remember what they did with the stolen paintings, thus appearing "incapable".
In search of lost works
Thanks to this initiative, for three months the lost paintings will return to shine on the TVs of users who, by purchasing The Frame, have shown their appreciation for quality, originality, art.Three months to remind everyone how much value has been lost, but also to remember that hopes can never be extinguished: searches continue to be in search of clues, sightings, glimpses of hope to prevent resignation from hiding these works forever. 'Human eye.
Works that were thought to have been destroyed intentionally or due to accidents or natural disasters have also been found. So, be optimistic, share your findings with others, and continue your research!
