How to sell a stolen painting
October 13 2013
Picture: Artvalue
First, steal from a small Dutch museum something modern and fairly non-descript (transl., rubbish), like the above work by Jan Schoonhoven (1914-94). Then cunningly change the title from 'R69-32' to 'R69-39', and just three months later submit to Sotheby's, where it'll make £182,500.
This really happened. More details inThe Art Newspaper here. The stolen work is still listed on the Sotheby's website (lot 110, 27th June), where the provenance states:
Acquired directly from the artist by the previous owner
Thence by descent to the present owner
Perhaps, in this case, 'by descent' meant down a drainpipe.
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