Art Crime: Terrorists, Tomb Raiders, Forgers and Thieves

388 Pages·2016·2.011 MB·English

by  Noah Charney (eds.)

Art Crime
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Art Crime
Terrorists, Tomb Raiders, Forgers and Thieves
Editedby
Noah Charney
AssociationforResearchintoCrimesagainstArt
Selection,introductionandeditorialmatter©NoahCharney2016
Foreword©KarlvonHabsburg-Lothringen2016
Individualchapters©Respectiveauthors2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-40756-6
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Firstpublished2016by
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Artcrime:terrorists,tombraiders,forgersandthieves/[editedby]
NoahCharney.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
1. Artthefts. 2. Art—Forgeries. 3. Culturalproperty—Protection—
Lawandlegislation—Criminalprovisions. I. Charney,Noah,editor,
writerofintroduction. II. AssociationforResearch
intoCrimesagainstArt.
N8795.A792015
364.16(cid:2)287—dc23 2015021819
Contents
ListofFigures viii
Foreword ix
Preface xii
Acknowledgments xvi
NotesonContributors xvii
Part I Forgers:FakesandForgeries
IntroductiontoPartI 2
NoahCharney
1 TheBeltracchiAffair:ACommentandFurtherReflectionson
the“MostSpectacular”GermanArtForgeryCaseinRecent
Times 9
SaskiaHufnagelandDuncanChappell
2 On“InPraiseofForgery” 21
BlakeGopnik
3 ConnoisseurshipAlltheWayDown:ArtAuthentication,
Forgery,FingerprintIdentification,ExpertKnowledge 27
SimonA.Cole
4 ThePoliceInvestigationofArtFraud 33
VernonRapley
5 TheGrapeWarofChina:WineFraudandHowScience
IsFightingBack 41
TobyBull
6 FingerprintingObjectsfortheControlofIllegalTrafficking 57
WilliamWei
Part II Terrorists:Policing,InvestigationandTerrorism
IntroductiontoPartII 78
NoahCharney
v
vi Contents
7 TheTheft,RecoveryandForensicInvestigationofLeonardoda
Vinci’sMadonnaoftheYarnwinder 87
MartinKemp
8 TryingtoRecoverTwoFrancescoGuardiCapricciStolenfrom
Russborough,CountyWicklow,in1986 95
CharlesHill
9 TheRoleofthePoliceintheCo-ProductionofArtSecurityin
London 105
JohnKerr
10 ThievesofBaghdad:AndtheTerroristsTheyFinance 118
ColonelMatthewBogdanos
11 LootingofAntiquities:TearingtheFabricofCivilSociety 132
LaurieW.Rush
12 TheReturnofIconoclasm:BarbarianIdeologyandDestruction
byISISasaChallengeforModernCulture,NotOnlyforIslam 143
FrancescoRutelli
Part III TombRaiders:ArchaeologyandAntiquities
Looting
IntroductiontoPartIII 152
NoahCharney
13 LootingandPassionofGreekVasesfromEtruriaandMagna
Graecia:TheBirthoftheGreatCollections 159
StefanoAlessandrini
14 AramaicIncantationBowlsinWarandinPeace 169
NeilBrodie
15 TempleLootinginCambodia:AnatomyofaStatueTrafficking
Network 179
SimonMackenzieandTessDavis
16 SomethingIsConfidentialintheStateofChristie’s 200
ChristosTsirogiannis
17 PolaroidsfromtheMediciDossier:ContinuedSightingsonthe
Market 229
DavidW.J.GillandChristosTsirogiannis
18 IllicitTraffickingandDestructionofCulturalPropertyin
Africa:AContinentataCrossroads 240
GeorgeAbungu
Contents vii
19 AntiquitiesCrimeasaPolicyProblem 255
LawrenceRothfield
Part IV Thieves:ArtLaw,WarandPolicy
IntroductiontoPartIV 264
NoahCharney
20 Nazi-LootedArtfromKyivDestroyedinEastPrussia–New
HopeforMoreSurvivors? 281
PatriciaKennedyGrimsted
21 SurvivingWarandPeace:TheLongRoadtoRecoveringthe
MalevichPaintings 308
HowardN.Spiegler
22 WhatIsDueDiligence?MakingtheCaseforaMore
ResponsibleArtMarket 316
ChristopherA.MarinelloandJeromeHasler
23 OutlineoftheBenefitsComingfromaNationalProsecution
ServiceinCulturalHeritageProtection 320
PaoloGiorgioFerri
24 APermanentInternationalArtCrimeTribunal? 327
JudgeArthurTompkins
25 GettingGovernmentstoCooperateagainstLooting:Insights
fromtheAmericanandBritishExperience 337
AsifEfrat
Index 359
Figures
6.1 Roughnessmeasurement/fingerprintofanoilpainting 59
6.2 Schematicdiagramshowingthetraditionalmethodfor
measuringaroughnessprofileusingaphonographstyle
needle 60
6.3 Schematicdiagramshowingprincipleofconfocalwhite-light
profilometryusingtwoconesobservedfromabove 61
6.4 μSurfwhite-lightconfocalprofilometerdevelopedand
manufacturedbyNanoFocusAG,Oberhausen,Germany 63
6.5 Fingerprintoftheglazeofaporcelaincup 65
6.6 Fingerprintstakenfromtwogoldbraceletsfoundinthe
ruinsofPompei 67
6.7 Fingerprintstakenofthenumber50ontwoofthesame
mapfromtwocopiesofthesamebook 69
6.8 Fingerprintstakenfromtwonew2Eurocentpieces 71
15.1 Mapofsitesvisitedandkeylocations 183
15.2 Traffickingroutesinthe“Channel1”network 185
viii
Foreword
Advancesinthestudyofartcrimeandtheimportanceof
protectingandidentifyingculturalproperty
The title of this book triggers some questions. Normally when the term art
crimeisused,onethinksabouttheftsofpaintings,sculpturesandantiques,
or new objets d’art or, in the worst case, a work of art that is so ugly or
repulsivethatsomeconsideritanartcrimeinitself.Butlookingatthecon-
tentsofthisbook,editedbyNoahCharney,Ifoundseveralchaptersdealing
withtermssuchasculturalproperty,collectableobjects,antiquities,cultural
heritage, art, archives and libraries. Nevertheless, taking into account the
rootsoftheeditorofthisvolume,namelytheAssociationforResearchinto
CrimesagainstArt(ARCA)andthecriminologicalbackgroundofthemajor-
ityofthecontributingauthors,Idounderstand,inthiscase, theuseofart
astheadjectivetoaccompanythecrime.
Still,Ithinkthattheterm“culturalproperty”coversabroaderperspective
than just art and, at the same time, provides a legal reference that makes
it clear that property cannot be damaged, stolen or completely destroyed
withoutlegalrepercussions.Apartfromthat,culturalpropertydoesnothave
tobeart,perse,andcanstandformultiplematerialandimmaterialcultural
representations,oftendirectlylinkedtoidentities.Ofcourse,thisallisfood
for thought, and we must not forget the international (academic) heritage
debate.
Having said this, an important element that all types of art, cultural
heritage, cultural properties and cultural resources can suffer from, which
consequently then serves as a common denominator, is crime. To combat
and prevent crimes related to cultural property, one still has to answer the
much-debatedquestionofwhatonemayclassifyasculturalheritageorprop-
erty. It should be simple to ascertain here that the scope of how different
types of cultural heritage are classified begins and ends with tangible and
intangible heritage, but that would be too easy. My aim is rather to reflect
and contemplate on what is, in my opinion, a combination of these three
types,triggeringdiscussionsaboutoverlapsinthenatureandidentityofart
andheritage,aswellasthenaturalandintangibleformsofculturalproperty.
Ifculturalpropertyisadequatelyidentified,itwillbeeasiertofindandfur-
therdeveloptheappropriatelegitimatepenalsanctionsandlegalprotection
instrumentswithwhichtoprotectit.
Atthebeginningof2014,Ivisitedthewar-strickenareasofMali.Itraveled
withourBlueShieldteam,includingJorisKila,ChristoGrozevandSiratigui
Sogoba, to the town of Timbuktu. The goal was to assess and investigate
ix