Cellini's masterpiece stolen

Cellini's gold salt cellar has been stolen from the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna:

Thieves stole the sculpture from its glass display case after smashing a window to get into the museum, police said. "The thieves climbed up some scaffolding to the first floor of the building, broke a window and climbed in," a police spokesman said. "They shattered the glass display case and took the sculpture. There were movement sensors all over the place - we are currently investigating why the alarm did not go off." [The] Saliera, which is 26 centimetres (10 inches) tall, is Cellini's only remaining authenticated gold work.

Although Cellini may not be a familiar name for non-art historians, the stolen piece was probably the icon of Italian Renaissance/Mannerist goldsmith's work, which the Vienna museum authorities not unfairly compared in importance (if not celebrity) to Leonardo's Mona Lisa. From the BBC.

HERE is an entry on the saltcellar; thumbnail Cellini biography here; Symonds' translation of Cellini's celebrated autobiography is available online at Bartlebys.com -- and quite an eventful and swashbuckling tale it is.

UPDATE: Two days later, the NY Times is on the story. Apparently the alarms went off, but the guard just switched them off and reset the security system.

Posted by David on May 11, 2003 1:24 PM