Greatest art robbery

The most costly art gallery heist in history is the robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on 18 March 1990. Two men dressed as police officers were buzzed into the guardroom during the night shift, they proceeded to overpower the guards and steal 13 objects valued at approximately $500 million. No-one has ever been convicted in connection with the robbery, and the artworks remain missing.

The artworks stolen were The Concert by Johannes Vermeer; The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, A Lady and Gentleman in Black, and a charcoal self-portrait by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn; Landscape with Obelisk by Govert Flinck (a student of Rembrandt's); Chez Tortoni by Edouard Manet; and five sketches by Edgar Degas. In addition to these works of visual art, the thieves also stole a French Imperial Eagle Finial (from a Napoleonic-era military standard) and an ancient Chinese gu or ceremonial cup.

The choice of targets has long baffled investigators. The Rembrandt and Vermeer works were obvious choices, being both extremely valuable (the Vermeer painting has been valued at $250 million on its own) and all located in the same room, however the Landscape with Obelisk was worth relatively little. The Manet painting was fairly valuable, but located on a different floor, far from all the other stolen artworks. The Degas sketches, similarly, were of little value (no more than $100,000 for the whole set) compared to other artworks that the thieves would have had to pass to get to them (which included pieces by Raphael, Botticelli, Michelangelo and Titian). Most confusing were the gu and finial, neither of which were worth more than a few thousand dollars.

Several suspects have been put forward, including members of the Boston Mafia, previously convicted art thieves, and a long list of local opportunists. Many of these suspects died, however, before they came to the attention of the investigators years after the heist, making it impossible to either confirm their involvement or rule them out. Despite a $10 million dollar reward, no-one has ever come forward with a credible lead.