Thieves Keep 'Stealing Rembrandts'

10:49

August 17, 2011

Los Angeles Sheriff detective Clarence Williams, left, and spokesman Steve Whitmore display the recovered $250,000 Rembrandt drawing known as "The Judgment", Tuesday in Marina Del Rey, Calif. (AP)

A thief walked into a luxury California hotel earlier this week and walked out with a valuable sketch by Rembrandt. The artwork by the 17th-century Dutch master was said to be worth a quarter of a million dollars. The story has a happy outcome for the hotel owners because police quickly recovered the drawing, and so the case is closed.

But here's what's remarkable about it: The botched heist was the 82nd documented theft of a Rembrandt work in the past century, making the artists work the most stolen work of any artist in the world. Why? Why Rembrandt?

Tom Mashberg, the co-author of "Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists," might know more about stealing Rembrandts than anyone else. Mashberg and Radio Boston's Anthony Brooks visited the Worcester Art Musuem, the scene of a 1970s Rembrandt heist.

Guest:

Tom Mashberg, co-author of "Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists"; reporter, Boston Herald

This segment aired on August 17, 2011.