Monday, March 26, 2012

Earlier this month, The Guardian Reported "Stolen Paintings Recovered in Rome 40 years after art heist"

Carabinieri TPC's Press conference in March to announce
 the finding of 37 paintings stolen from a neighbor's house
 in the Parioli district of Rome more than 41 years ago. 
Tom Kington in Rome reports for The Guardian, "Stolen Paintings Recovered in Rome 40 years after art heist."

In his article, subtitled "Italian police find stolen paintings hanging in a house in the same district of Rome from where 42 works disappeared", Kington writes:
"It was one of the most audacious art thefts seen in Rome: one night in 1971 a gang of thieves slipped into the plush residence of a construction magnate in the upmarket Parioli neighbourhood and walked out with 42 rare paintings, including works by Van Dyck and Poussin."
Here's Frommers note on the Parioli district:
Parioli, Rome's most elegant residential section, Parioli, is framed by the green spaces of the Villa Borghese to the south and the Villa Glori and Villa Ada to the north.  It's a setting for some of the city's finest restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs.  It's not exactly central, however, and it can be a hassle if you're dependent on public transportation.  Parioli lies adjacent to Prati but across the Tiber to the east; like Prati, this is one of the safer districts.  We'd call Parioli an area for connoisseurs, attracting those who shun the overrun Spanish Steps and the overly commercialized Via Veneto, and those who'd never admit to have been in the Termini area. [Frommers]
The 17th century Villa Borghese of course houses many beautiful paintings from the 15th to the 18th century (including works by Caravaggio, Lucas Cranach, Anton Van Dyck, Pieter Paul Rubens, and Titian) and lovely sculpture by artists such as Bernini. On my first trip to the Galleries Borghese we actually had seen so many lovely artworks on the ground floor that we had to force ourselves to the upper floor (and not all of our group had the stamina) only to find exquisite paintings by Raphael.

More information about the theft, the images of the paintings, and a list of the paintings can be found on ARCA's blog here, here, and here.

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