"I am furious. My instructions had been perfectly clear: break into the Louvre, head for the Denon wing and deliver me the Leonardo da Vincis. Instead, what did they do? Brought me trinkets! Stand there, over the trap door. A bit more to the right. It would be nice to think an art collector supervillain somewhere was punishing the Louvre raiders for their moronic bad taste."
"Admittedly, security around the Mona Lisa has improved since it was last stolen in 1911, but the museum's other Leonardos just hang on the wall like other paintings. And there is so much beauty, so many quiet galleries, scattered through this vast former palace: the thieves could have got out with a Chardin still life, a Rogier van der Weyden, an ancient Mesopotamian statuette."
Anger arises over thieves taking trinkets instead of prized Leonardo paintings. Security around the Mona Lisa has improved since 1911, but other Leonardos remain displayed like ordinary paintings. Thieves used an extending ladder on a truck to enter the Galerie d'Apollon and remove a collection of old royal knick-knacks. Reports framed the items as France's crown jewels, but these objects function as obscure relics because France has not had royals for a long time. Stolen pieces include a necklace and earrings of Marie-Amelie and a tiara and brooch of Empress Eugenie. Many quiet galleries and significant artworks remained unplundered.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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