Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Rotterdam Roundup

Lots more today on the big Dutch art heist.

The New York Times reports "the theft was the latest alarm about museum security in Europe, now a prime hunting ground for art thieves," includes a slide show of some of the stolen works, and also has an op-ed by Anthony Amore, director of security at the Gardner Museum, who says that art thieves "are often opportunistic and almost always shortsighted."  The Guardian's Edward Dolnick has a similar take:  "what are the thieves thinking? Less than you would imagine."

CBS News wonders if it was an inside job.

ARCA's Catherine Sezgin rounds up some additional reports.

And Crispin Sartwell speculates that the thieves "are art-rights extremists who are trying to free all the works of art that are imprisoned in museums. how can i help? let my paintings go. we need to bring the art back into the world and stop locking it up behind layers of bulletproof glass and impregnable marble."