The New Museum-Heist Tactic: In and Out in Three Minutes

BY JULIE BRENER DAVICH

$11.5 million in art was stolen from an Italian museum in a smash and grab, setting off fears of Louvre copycats

Just months after four thieves carried out a brazen eight-minute smash and grab at the Louvre Museum in Paris, making off with $102 million worth of French Crown Jewels, another brazen museum heist happened—in even less time.

A group of thieves stole three artworks by Renoir, Matisse and Cézanne reportedly worth a combined $11.5 million, and in this case, the crime took three minutes. The robbery happened at the Magnani- Rocca Foundation, housed in a Neoclassical villa just outside Parma in Northern Italy’s country--side. The artworks were displayed in the French Room on the upper floor.

It’s a wake-up call to the art world that the Louvre incident might have spawned a wave of copycat thefts. “The fact that thieves were able to infiltrate the Louvre in a city center in just eight minutes was a sign to criminals they can get in everywhere,” said attorney Christopher Marinello of the London and Venice-based group Art Recovery International, who is not working on this specific case. The firm represents victims and insurance companies in recovering stolen artworks, often serving as the intermediary between perpetrators and law enforcement.

The Louvre theft taught thieves that speed and force are the way to go, said Marinello, though that robbery was more theatrical because the crew dressed as construction workers to enter in broad daylight while the building was filled with visitors.

“This museum and other museums have not learned enough from the Louvre theft,” he said.

In Parma, the thieves entered through the front door late Sunday night, March 22, just one week after the Magnani-Rocca Foundation reopened for the summer season. The museum is closed on Mondays.

Speaking from experience, Marinello said, “Museums like this are often not allowed to put in an armed or metal door, because it’s not in keeping with original architecture.”

The Foundation responded to a request for comment with a statement (translated from the Italian) that read, in part, “The Foundation immediately activated all required procedures and is collaborating with the Carabinieri Unit for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and the competent authorities, who are conducting the investigation.” “Italy is full of small cultural institutions that are loaded with beautiful art. All you need is a crowbar and three minutes” to walk away with something, Marinello said. According to the Italian news outlet La Repubblica, the thieves were interrupted by the museum’s security system and abandoned an attempt to grab a fourth artwork.

One of the challenges facing museums is the significant increase in the value of art in their collections, not only adding to the cost of their insurance premiums but also making the works far more enticing to thieves. According to Lindsay Dewar, head of analytics at art market research firm ArtTactic, the value of Impressionist and Modern art—like those taken from the Magnani-Rocca—sold at major auction houses since 2000 has risen by more than 400%.

A long history of art robberies shows that museums may never quite be able to shut out thieves. Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was stolen in 1911 by an Italian employee of the Louvre who wanted to repatriate the masterpiece. He hid in a broom closet until after the museum had closed, then walked out with the painting under his coat. It was recovered two years later in Florence when the perpetrator tried to sell it.

In 1994, two thieves broke a window at the National Gallery in Oslo and absconded with Munch’s “The Scream,” leaving behind a note that read, “Thanks for the poor security.” Ten years later, a different version of the painting was stolen in an armed robbery, along with the artist’s “Madonna,” from the Munch Museum across town. All three paintings were recovered, though, says Marinello, 95% of the billions of dollars worth of art stolen every year is never found. The investigation into the Louvre jewel heist is ongoing. Four suspects are in French custody but the stolen jewels remain missing. The Magnani-Rocca Foundation contains the art collection of musicologist and art critic Luigi Magnani, the heir to a dairy fortune. Established in 1977, the villa became a public museum in 1990, six years after his death. The collection spans Old Masters like Titian, Dürer and Goya to modern masterpieces, including Monet and de Chirico, as well as the works that were taken.

The centerpiece of the collection is an ensemble of 50 paintings by Giorgio Morandi, whose studio was in nearby Bologna. Magnani was a benefactor and close friend of the reclusive artist, known for his muted still lifes of different ceramic vessels in various configurations.

Last year, the David Zwirner gallery brought the foundation’s Morandi paintings to New York for several weeks while the villa was closed for the winter. “Magnani was a visionary collector,” said gallery partner David Leiber, who oversaw the Morandi exhibition and the extensive export licenses that were required to get the works out of Italy. “To have this intensely coherent collection disturbed by this brazen theft is a tragedy.”

A long history of art robberies shows that museums may never quite be able to shut out thieves.