Hermitage woes

Another long-running story on which I'm playing catch-up; here are some recent highlights:

A painting turned over to Communist Party officials this week is believed to be a 19th-century French painting stolen from Russia's State Hermitage Museum five years ago, officials said.

The Communist leader, Gennady Zyuganov said a man had brought a nondescript package into the party's parliamentary offices Wednesday morning. Inside, party officials found a painting that had been cut into four pieces. Zyuganov did not identify the man.

Officials later realized it was the painting "Piscine du Harem" by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, which was stolen from the Hermitage in March 2001. The painting was valued at about $1 million.

From the International Herald Tribune. And from the December 5th Telegraph:

Tomorrow marks the start of an unusual exhibition in St Petersburg when the State Hermitage Museum puts 31 stolen items, returned to them by the police, on exhibition – in order to say thank you to the art collectors and dealers who have returned them.

The exhibition highlights the mystery surrounding the disappearance of 226 objects from the museum's Russian Treasury.

The Moscow procurator has sent in a team of investigators whose report is expected at the end of this month. Rumours swirl of conspiracy, insider involvement, thefts commissioned by the art trade, politicians, the FSB (the state security service) and the police.

And now, from Reuters:

A Russian is to stand trial on charges he stole art objects from the Hermitage with his late wife, a curator at the world-famous museum.

In August, Nikolai Zavadsky's lawyer quoted him as saying he had stolen the artefacts because he needed money to buy insulin for his diabetic wife.

She died suddenly at the start of an inventory that revealed $5 million (2.54 million pounds) worth of art items in her charge were missing from the museum in Russia's second city of St Petersburg.

That would buy a lot of insulin, but if you read the linked articles, you'll appreciate that that isn't the only thing about this story that doesn't add up.

Posted by David on December 28, 2006 1:36 PM