The Louvre yesterday was hit just after opening by a successful heist that took less than seven minutes to pull off. Despite the fact it’s one of the most secure and heavily guarded museums in the world, thieves got away with jewellery of incalculable value in what was the first robbery at the Louvre since 1998. No thieves have managed or even dared to get away with any of the gallery’s priceless artefacts for 27 years until the events of yesterday – where the criminals are still at large and the time is ticking for the police to attempt to get the stolen goods back. But what happened at the Louvre the last time it had a huge robbery? Here’s all that went down in 1998.
This time it was jewels, last time a painting
The Louvre is famously home to some of the most renowned art in the world, notably the Mona Lisa. But in 1998, another painting was stolen. Le chemin de Sèvres is an oil painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot painted in the 1850s and had entered the Louvre’s collection in 1902.
It was worth 12,000 Francs when it first entered the collection. The value of the painting today is honestly inestimable – because of the lore around it and how long it’s been missing.
On May 3rd 1998, Le chemin de Sèvres was cut from its frame in broad daylight without anyone even noticing. It was done by removing pegs from behind its frame. As soon as it was noticed that the painting had gone, the entire Louvre was instantly shut. Hundreds of visitors were searched and the police instantly fingerprinted the painting’s frame and glass.
Via Unsplash
To this day, the stolen painting was never found and has never been recovered. The Louvre tightened security even harder and obviously that’s why nothing has gone missing for 27 years.
The key reasons and theories why the painting was never found
The biggest reason is that the painting was relatively small – only 45 by 65cm. Because of the size, it was easy to transport and potentially move into the black market in a way that a larger painting would be more difficult. Because it’s never been found, art crime investigators theorise it was quite quickly sold or traded underground. The trail also went cold quick and there’s been no solid lead to follow now in 25 years.
Paintings sometimes show up in private vaults or collections years later – so who knows when it may turn up.
For more like this, like The Tab on Facebook.
