A Missing Lempicka

This lovely lady called "The Musician" was the property of the Sheringa Museum of Realist Art north of Amsterdam which opened in 1997. The painting was one of two paintings the other by Salvador Dali, stolen in an armed robbery on the first of May 2009.

The painting was painted by artist Tamara de Lempicka in 1929 and represents an artist at the forefront of the art deco movement of the time. Six months after the theft the rest of the  museums paintings were seized as the owners went bankrupt.

A Most Beautiful Van Gogh

I posted an article recently on a stolen Cezanne, the Cezanne was one of four paintings stolen from a Swiss foundations museum. This is Vincent Van Gogh's "Blossoming Chestnut Branches" which was taken in the same robbery though thankfully was found in a parked car a week later along with a Monet taken in the same robbery.

I went to a Van Gogh exhibition 30 years ago at the Art Gallery of Ontario and I must say it did not make me a fan of Van Gogh infact I found it all very Gaudy but having seen "Blossoming Chestnut Branches" I now have a favorite Van Gogh.

Mexico's Codex Colombino

This is a sheet from Mexico's only surviving Pre-Columbian codex. The 14th/early 15th century codex depicts the deeds of an 11th century ruler named Eight Deer Jaguar Claw. In total the codex contains 24 pages that if placed side by side would be 6 meters long and is sadly the only Pre-Columbian codex that has survived in Mexico.

The article is actually on a facsimile edition of the codex which is being published.

A Stolen Cezanne

Here we have an oil painting painted by Paul Cezanne in 1894/95 titled "The Boy in the Red Vest". The painting is the property of the Foundation E. G. Buhrle in Zurich, Switzerland.

The painting was one of four stolen from the foundations art museum on the 10th of February 2008 and has not been recovered. The painting being the most valuable in the collection. Also never recovered from the same robbery was Edgar Degas's 1871 portrait of "Count Lepic and his Daughters".

Vincent Van Gogh's gorgeous 1890 "Blossoming Chestnut Branches" and Claude Monet's "Poppies near Vetheuil" were recovered a little over a week later in a nearby car.

Skull Closes 130 Year old Murder Case

A skull found in the garden of David Attenborough has proven to belong to lady Julia Thomas who was murdered by her housekeeper in 1879. The housekeeper suffocated and then chopped up lady Thomas rendering lady Thomas' remains which she fed to local children to eat.

A box of flesh found in the Thames and a foot were all that were found of Lady Thomas until know. The housekeeper killed lady Thomas after lady Thomas arrived home from church in March of 1879. The housekeeper stole lady Thomas' false teeth and impersonated her while she sold off her mistress' belongings.

The housekeeper was found guilty and hanged for the crime.

America's 235Th Birthday

All the best to my American readers on the 4th of July and Happy 235th Birthday to the United States of America.

Another Stolen Van Gogh

On December 7, 2002 the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was entered by thieves who stole two paintings including  "Beach at Scheveningen in stormy weather" by Vincent Van Gogh and painted on the beach during a storm in 1882.

Two men were convicted of the theft a year later but the painting has never been recovered.

Queen Victoria's Funeral ca. 1901

Here we have only a few seconds of the funeral including a glimpse of Victoria's coffin.

Nosferatu ca. 1922

Here is the sensational 1922 film "Nosferatu". "Was it he who brought the plague to Bremen in 1838?