FBI Announces Addition to Top Ten Art Crimes List

The FBI today announced an addition to its Top Ten Art Crimes list. A Cavalier was stolen on June 10, 2007, from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The self-portrait, by Dutch Master Frans Van Mieris (1635-1681), was stolen while the gallery was open for public viewing. The piece is in oil on wood panel and measures 16 x 20 centimeters, or approximately 6 ½ x 8 inches.

"The FBI is pleased to be able to work with our Australian law enforcement colleagues in an effort to bring this piece of history back to the Art Gallery of New South Wales," said Bonnie Magness-Gardiner of the FBI's Art Theft Program. "Theft of a significant work of art such as this is not only a crime against an institution but deprives both the local and international community of its cultural heritage."

The FBI initiated the Top Ten Art Crimes list in 2005. Since then, five paintings and one sculpture from four entries have been recovered: A Rembrandt self-portrait and Renoir's Young Parisian from Sweden's National Museum theft; Goya's Children with a Cart from the Toledo Art Museum theft; Munch's The Scream and The Madonna from the Munch Museum theft in Oslo; and the Cellini Salt Cellar from the Kunsthistorisches Museum theft in Vienna. Also recovered was the Statue of Entemena from the Iraqi Looted and Stolen Artifacts entry. The current list may be found on the Art Theft Program page of the FBI's website listed below.

Persons with any information about this work of art or circumstances concerning this crime are encouraged to contact their local FBI office or the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate, or to submit a tip online at www.fbi.gov.

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