Art Crimes

A high-necked polychrome pot, created sometime between 1100 and 1400 B.C.E., was among the more than 900 items returned to Mali.

The U.S. Returns More Than 900 Stolen Artifacts to Mali

American authorities seized the presumably looted objects, which were listed as replicas, in 2009

Art dealer Helen Fioratti and her husband, Nereo, purchased the mosaic from an aristocratic Italian family in the 1960s and used it as a coffee table in their Manhattan apartment for some 45 years.

A Mosaic From Caligula's 'Pleasure Boat' Spent 45 Years as a Coffee Table in NYC

Authorities returned the ancient artwork, now on view at a museum near Rome, to Italy following a multi-year investigation

New research suggests this portrait of an old man was painted by Rembrandt himself.

A Painting Stolen in East Germany's Biggest Art Heist May Be a Rembrandt

An exhibition at Schloss Friedenstein addresses two art history mysteries: one about the 16th-century Dutch portrait and another about the 1979 theft

Houdini exposed fake Spiritualist practices by having himself photographed with the "ghost" of Abraham Lincoln.

For Harry Houdini, Séances and Spiritualism Were Just an Illusion

The magician spent years campaigning against fraudulent psychics, even lobbying Congress to ban fortune-telling in D.C.

Researchers studying Edvard Munch's Madonna (left) discovered hidden underdrawings (right) that reveal how the artist tinkered with his composition over time.

Hidden Sketch Reveals a More Traditional Version of Edvard Munch's Sensual 'Madonna'

A chance discovery suggests the woman's provocative pose was originally somewhat subdued

Of the 1,525 artifacts included in the show, 881 were recovered from abroad.

Trove of Artifacts, Many Recovered From Abroad, Traces 4,000 Years of Mexican History

A new exhibition in Mexico City features 1,525 objects linked to the Maya, Toltec, Teotihuacán, Aztec and Mixtec cultures

The museum has a written agreement that the money must be returned when the exhibition ends on January 16, 2022. But Haaning says he has no plans to repay the cash.

Artist Takes Museum's $84,000, Returns With Blank Canvases Titled 'Take the Money and Run'

Jens Haaning says he has no plans to repay the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, which expected him to incorporate the cash into a new artwork

The National Gallery's Samson and Delilah (1609-10) is attributed to Peter Paul Rubens, but some scholars have raised doubts regarding its authenticity in recent decades.

Did Peter Paul Rubens Really Paint 'Samson and Delilah'?

A.I. analysis renews doubts over the authenticity of a star painting in the London National Gallery's collection

The cache of newly returned items includes 15 handwritten papers and a small collection of looted antiquities.

Colonial-Era Papers Stolen From Mexico's National Archive Return Home

The documents, many of which are directly linked to conquistador Hernán Cortés, were smuggled out of the country and auctioned in the U.S.

In the modern era, the European discovery of North American became a proxy for conflicts between American Protestants and Catholics, as well as northern Europeans who claimed Vikings like Leif Eriksson (left) as their ancestors and southern Europeans who touted links to Columbus (right) and the monarchs of Spain.

Viking Map of North America Identified as 20th-Century Forgery

New technical analysis dates Yale's Vinland Map to the 1920s or later, not the 1440s as previously suggested

Hobby Lobby acquired the cuneiform tablet for display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.

Smuggled Gilgamesh Dream Tablet Returns to Iraq

Forfeited by Hobby Lobby in July, the ancient artifact will be repatriated in a ceremony held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian

Italian artist Girolamo di Tommaso da Treviso created the ceremonial shield around 1535.

Ornate Medieval Shield Looted by the Nazis Will Be Returned to the Czech Republic

Created in the 16th century, the intricately decorated piece of armor was once owned by Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Two looted gold coins recovered from a home in Bnei Brak

Israeli Investigators Seize Ancient Coins Looted From Archaeological Sites

The stolen artifacts were found in the Bnei Brak home of an individual suspected of antiquities trafficking

The thieves attempted to steal De Voorzaan en de Westerhem, an 1871 painting by Claude Monet.

Thieves Attempt to Steal a Monet From a Dutch Museum—but Drop It Mid-Escape

The would-be robbers tried to take an 1871 landscape by the French Impressionist from the Zaans Museum in Zaandam

A vandal covered this mural of a rat sipping a cocktail in white spray paint.

Banksy Murals in England Defaced, Removed Just Days After Appearing

Vandals targeted two scenes in the street artist’s latest series. Local officials covered up two others

Researchers hoped to open the tunnel to the public. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they must settle for covering it with dirt until work can resume.

Mexican Archaeologists Rebury Tunnel Adorned With Aztec Carvings After Losing Funding

Costs associated with the Covid-19 pandemic have placed the preservation project on an indefinite hold

The Humboldt Forum opened in the heart of Berlin on July 20.

Why Germany's Newly Opened Humboldt Forum Is So Controversial

Critics cite the Berlin museum's ties to the country's colonialist past

Experts restored the sitter's facial expression to its original state.

Why the Vegetable Seller in This 450-Year-Old Painting Isn't Smiling Anymore

Restoration revealed that a grin had been added to the original—and brought experts closer to identifying the work's creator

The U.S. Third Army discovers Édouard Manet’s The Winter Garden in the salt mines at Merkers on April 25, 1945.

When the Monuments Men Pushed Back Against the U.S. to Protect Priceless Art

A new show spotlights the scholars who protested the controversial, post-war American tour of 202 German-owned artworks

Greek police recovered two paintings by Pablo Picasso (left) and Piet Mondrian (right) this week, after the works were stolen in a 2012 heist of the National Gallery.

How a Self-Professed 'Art Freak' Pulled Off a Bold Heist at Greece's National Museum

Greek police recovered two paintings by Picasso and Mondrian, stolen 9 years ago in an early morning caper, after a 49-year-old man confessed to the crime

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