Results for “missing”
The Caravaggio Nativity, Palermo
In 1969 Caravaggio's 'Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence' was crudely cut from its frame in a Palermo oratory. Long linked to the Sicilian Mafia, it remains one of the world's most-wanted missing paintings.
The Dresden Green Vault Heist
In 2019 thieves cut power to a street light, breached a window, and stole a trove of 18th-century diamond jewellery from Dresden's Green Vault. Much of it was recovered in 2022 under a court deal.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Robbery
In 1972 thieves entered the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts through a skylight and took eighteen paintings, including a Rembrandt landscape. Almost all remain missing — Canada's largest art theft.
The Christ Church Picture Gallery Theft
In 2020 thieves broke into the Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford and took three Old Master paintings by Annibale Carracci, Salvator Rosa, and Anthony van Dyck. Two remain missing, one came back!
The Egyptian Museum Looting, Cairo
During the 2011 revolution, intruders entered Cairo's Egyptian Museum, damaging and stealing artefacts — including objects associated with Tutankhamun. Some were later recovered.
The Van Gogh Museum Robbery
Thieves used a ladder to enter the Van Gogh Museum in 2002 and made off with two paintings. They resurfaced fourteen years later in the hands of a Naples crime family.
The 2025 Louvre Crown Jewels Heist
On 19 October 2025, four men disguised as construction workers used a boom lift to enter the Louvre's Galerie d'Apollon, smashed the display cases of the French Crown Jewels, and escaped in under ten minutes with eight historic objects worth an estimated €88 million. Most remain missing.
The Just Judges Mystery
In 1934 one panel of the Ghent Altarpiece was stolen from St Bavo's Cathedral. Ransom notes, a deathbed confession, and endless theories have never produced the painting.
The Ashmolean Cézanne Theft
As Oxford celebrated the new millennium, a thief slipped into the Ashmolean through a rooftop and took Cézanne's 'View of Auvers-sur-Oise'. It has never been found.
The Stephen Shih Rodin Theft
On Thanksgiving Day 1988, Stephen Shih walked into Philadelphia's Rodin Museum with a handgun, handcuffed three guards, fired a warning shot, and strolled out with Rodin's 'Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose'. It was recovered four months later near a basement furnace.
Arthur Brand
Dubbed the 'Indiana Jones of the art world', Arthur Brand is a Dutch art detective who has recovered a remarkable string of stolen and looted works by working the grey zone between the underworld and the market. His finds include the monumental bronze horses sculpted for Hitler's Reich Chancellery ('Hitler's Horses'), a Picasso portrait of Dora Maar missing for two decades, Oscar Wilde's ring, and a Van Gogh spirited away during the pandemic. He operates through informants and patient negotiation rather than force, arguing that most stolen art is never sold but circulates as underworld collateral.
Poppy Flowers (Vase with Viscaria)
A small Van Gogh floral still life, stolen twice from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo — once in 1977, and again in 2010, when it vanished in daylight amid non-functioning alarms and cameras. Still missing.
Portrait of a Young Man
Widely considered the most important painting still missing since the Second World War. Looted by the Nazis from Poland's Czartoryski collection and last seen in 1945. Known today mainly from a pre-war photograph.
Program for an Artistic Soirée
One of five Degas works on paper taken in the 1990 Gardner heist and still missing.
Mona Lisa
Leonardo's enigmatic portrait, likely of Lisa Gherardini. Its 1911 theft — and the two years it spent missing — turned a well-regarded Renaissance panel into the most recognized painting on earth.
Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee
Rembrandt's only known seascape, cut from its frame during the 1990 Gardner heist and still missing.
Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence
Caravaggio's late altarpiece, cut from its frame in a Palermo oratory in 1969 and long linked to the Sicilian Mafia. One of the most-wanted missing paintings in the world.
The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (Ghent Altarpiece)
The monumental van Eyck polyptych — the most stolen artwork in history, coveted by Napoleon and the Nazis alike. Recovered from the Altaussee salt mine in 1945; one panel, the Just Judges, remains missing.
La Sortie de Pesage
Another Degas racecourse study among the Gardner's thirteen missing works.
The Just Judges (Ghent Altarpiece panel)
A lower-left panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, stolen in 1934 and never recovered — the most sought-after missing artwork in Europe. A painted copy stands in its place.
Saint Bavo's Cathedral
The Ghent cathedral home of the Van Eyck altarpiece, whose 'Just Judges' panel vanished in 1934 and is still missing.
Three Decades On, the Gardner Reward Still Stands at $10 Million
The museum reaffirms its offer as investigators mark another anniversary of the unsolved 1990 heist.
Louvre Heist Update: Mastermind Reportedly Told Crew They “Could Have Taken More”
Newly released suspect statements describe a post-heist “performance review” from an unidentified organizer known only as “Jo” — who thought the crew left valuable pieces behind.
From Condos to Condos
