Missing $109 Million Masterpiece Found

Missing $109 Million Masterpiece Found

Missing $109 Million Masterpiece Found, Serbia says finds Cezanne missing masterpiece worth $109m, A work nabbed at gunpoint in one of the world's biggest art heists has finally been recovered, police say. Police in Serbia believe they have recovered an Impressionist masterpiece by Paul Cezanne worth at least $109 million that was stolen at gunpoint in one of the world's biggest art heists four years ago, a police official said on Thursday.

"We believe the painting is Cezanne's Boy in a Red Waistcoat and three suspects were detained in connection with that," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

"Experts in Serbia and abroad are trying to ascertain whether the painting is an original. This painting is worth tens of millions of euros," the official added.

The canvas - Boy in a Red Waistcoat - was one of four paintings stolen from a Swiss art gallery in 2008 by a trio of masked robbers who burst in just before closing time and told staff to lay on the floor while they took what they wanted.

The paintings were reportedly worth an estimated $163 million at the time and the heist was the biggest art theft in Swiss history and one of the largest in the world. The Boy in a Red Waistcoat canvas was worth $110 million alone at the time.

The painting was stolen in 2008 from the Emil Georg Buehrle gallery in Zurich, a private collection founded by a World War Two arms dealer and entrepreneur. The gallery could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Two of the stolen canvasses, one by Claude Monet and the other by Vincent Van Gogh, were recovered days later abandoned in a car, but the other two - the Cezanne and a painting by Edgar Degas, have been missing for the last four years.

Cezanne's Boy in a Red Waistcoat is thought to have been painted around 1888 and depicts a boy in traditional Italian dress donning a red waistcoat, a blue handkerchief and a blue belt. Three other versions of the painting are in museums in the United States.

Last October, the Serbian police recovered two paintings by Pablo Picasso - Tête de Cheval (Horse's Head) and Verre et Pichet (Glass and Pitcher) - stolen in 2008 from a gallery in the Swiss town of Pfaeffikon, near Zurich.

The police official said law enforcement agencies from several countries had cooperated in the latest investigation that led to the apparent recovery of the Cezanne masterpiece.

Serbia's state prosecutor is expected to issue a statement or give a press briefing on the case later on Thursday.

via: yahoo

Missing $109 Million Masterpiece Found

Missing $109 Million Masterpiece Found

Missing $109 Million Masterpiece Found, Serbia says finds Cezanne missing masterpiece worth $109m, A work nabbed at gunpoint in one of the world's biggest art heists has finally been recovered, police say. Police in Serbia believe they have recovered an Impressionist masterpiece by Paul Cezanne worth at least $109 million that was stolen at gunpoint in one of the world's biggest art heists four years ago, a police official said on Thursday.

"We believe the painting is Cezanne's Boy in a Red Waistcoat and three suspects were detained in connection with that," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

"Experts in Serbia and abroad are trying to ascertain whether the painting is an original. This painting is worth tens of millions of euros," the official added.

The canvas - Boy in a Red Waistcoat - was one of four paintings stolen from a Swiss art gallery in 2008 by a trio of masked robbers who burst in just before closing time and told staff to lay on the floor while they took what they wanted.

The paintings were reportedly worth an estimated $163 million at the time and the heist was the biggest art theft in Swiss history and one of the largest in the world. The Boy in a Red Waistcoat canvas was worth $110 million alone at the time.

The painting was stolen in 2008 from the Emil Georg Buehrle gallery in Zurich, a private collection founded by a World War Two arms dealer and entrepreneur. The gallery could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Two of the stolen canvasses, one by Claude Monet and the other by Vincent Van Gogh, were recovered days later abandoned in a car, but the other two - the Cezanne and a painting by Edgar Degas, have been missing for the last four years.

Cezanne's Boy in a Red Waistcoat is thought to have been painted around 1888 and depicts a boy in traditional Italian dress donning a red waistcoat, a blue handkerchief and a blue belt. Three other versions of the painting are in museums in the United States.

Last October, the Serbian police recovered two paintings by Pablo Picasso - Tête de Cheval (Horse's Head) and Verre et Pichet (Glass and Pitcher) - stolen in 2008 from a gallery in the Swiss town of Pfaeffikon, near Zurich.

The police official said law enforcement agencies from several countries had cooperated in the latest investigation that led to the apparent recovery of the Cezanne masterpiece.

Serbia's state prosecutor is expected to issue a statement or give a press briefing on the case later on Thursday.

via: yahoo

Shopper finds a real Picasso at thrift store

Shopper finds a real Picasso at thrift store

Shopper finds a real Picasso at thrift store, Man finds rare Picasso print at thrift store, Ohio Man Buys Genuine Picasso at Thrift Store for $14, Zach Bodish buys a framed art exhibit poster for $14 but then spots an unusual mark. An Ohio man may have accidentally gotten the deal of a lifetime at a thrift store. Zach Bodish, an art enthusiast, paid $14.14 for what he thought was a framed poster reproduction of a famous Pablo Picasso print. A man is shocked to find out he bought a Picasso print at a thift store. A print a man bought a thrift store turned out to be a Picasso print, Spike Lee apologizes for tweeting address of Florida couple. Bargain shopper finds real Picasso on thrift-store shelf.

Bodish later discovered a small red signature at the bottom right of the print, and realized he may have an original Picasso print on his hands. He told the Columbus Dispatch that he "started shaking a little bit." So he did some research and found out that the signature is in the same place that Picasso signed his other original prints.

In 1958, Picasso was asked to create a poster for his 1958 ceramics exhibit in France, and the piece Bodish purchased is numbered 6 out of 100. So his piece is one of the earlier proofs that Picasso approved.

Art experts who have seen the print say the signature looks like the real deal, and could sell for $6,000 at an auction or double that if it were sold to a gallery. For now, Bodish says there is a good chance that he will sell the print.

People on Twitter are eager to go thrift-store shopping, hoping to be as lucky as Bodish and make a rare find.

via: yahoo

Fat cat makes her mark on fine art

Fat cat makes her mark on fine art

Fat cat makes her mark on fine art, Fat cat makes for fine art, Artist Svetlana Petrova reinterprets the world's finest works of art with her own unique model. Artist Svetlana Petrova doesn't have to pay models to pose for her, instead she uses her ginger tabby Zarathustra. She recreates some of the world's finest paintings by Botticelli, Dali, or Monet, featuring her fine feline as willing subject. It has to be seen to be believed!

Stunning detail in daring snow sculptures

Stunning detail in daring snow sculptures

Stunning detail in daring snow sculptures, Competitive Snow Sculpting, Rob Neyland's made a part-time career out of transforming massive blocks of ice into works of art. Realtor Rob Neyland, 59, helped found the International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge, CO. Second Act: A Webby Award-winning series about real stories celebrating life, passion and reinvention

Hitler's lost art collection discovered

Hitler's lost art collection discovered

Hitler's lost art collection discovered, Adolf Hitler’s long-lost collection of paintings discovered, The seven paintings that disappeared near the end of World War II included one of his favorites. A Czech historian has discovered a long-lost collection of paintings belonging to Adolf Hitler. The Telegraph reports that the unearthed works of art include a "massive" painting entitled "Memories of Stalingrad." Even though the battle of Stalingrad was one of the German army's most brutal defeats in World War II, the painting is said to have been one of Hitler's favorites.

Historians tell the Telegraph that the collection could be auctioned for about $2.6 million. However, the convent where the paintings were discovered has said in a statement that it intends to keep the collection. The collection was discovered by Jiri Kuchar, a Czech historian, in the town of Doskany, north of Prague.

Hitler had reportedly ordered the paintings to be hidden in a monastery in southern Bohemia, but they were found by American forces during the war. Exactly how the paintings disappeared and ended up in the convent remains a mystery.

German forces were notorious for stealing and hiding priceless works of art during Hitler's reign. A 2006 book, "Rescuing Da Vinci," by Robert M. Edsel, chronicles the efforts of American soldiers who recovered thousands of pieces of stolen and lost artwork during World War II.

And Hitler himself was an aspiring artist of sorts. You can view some of his paintings here.

Kuchar tells the Telegraph that there are still nine more paintings in the collection that have yet to be discovered. "I've got a feeling that many places will be reluctant to admit their favorite works of art have this unfortunate historical blemish," he said.

Oddly enough, Hitler seems to be popping up in the news quite a bit lately. Less than two weeks ago, it was revealed that Hitler fathered a secret love child who actually fought against Nazi forces during the war. And exactly one month ago, I wrote about newly discovered, intimate photographs from inside Hitler's private residence.

via: yahoo

+Masterpiece Painted in Three Minutes

Masterpiece Painted in Three Minutes

Masterpiece Painted in Three Minutes, Mind-Blowing Painting Skills, Well, not really. Check out this cool time-lapse video that captures a talented young artist as he creates a world like you've never seen before. Check out this stop-motion video featuring Thijme Termaat, an incredibly talented Dutch artist.

Masterpiece Painted in Three Minutes

Masterpiece Painted in Three Minutes

Masterpiece Painted in Three Minutes, Mind-Blowing Painting Skills, Well, not really. Check out this cool time-lapse video that captures a talented young artist as he creates a world like you've never seen before. Check out this stop-motion video featuring Thijme Termaat, an incredibly talented Dutch artist.

Picasso's "Guernica" undergoes medical check

Picasso's "Guernica" undergoes medical check

Picasso's "Guernica" undergoes medical check, Iconic painting gets health check at 75, A specially built robotic machine lets experts see Picasso's "Guernica" like never before. Pablo Picasso's "Guernica," one of the world's most iconic paintings, is getting a full health check as it marks its 75th anniversary. A giant robotic machine is taking tens of thousands of microscopic shots of the black-and-white anti-war masterpiece to allow experts to penetrate the work like never before and see its real condition after a hectic life traveling the globe.

Madrid's Reina Sofia museum — where "Guernica" is housed — has teamed up with Spanish telecommunication company Telefonica to develop the technology, which uses advanced infrared and ultraviolet photography.

The machine was built so that "Guernica" does not have to make the risky move to a conservation laboratory, where normally such investigative work would be done.

"The painting is in delicate condition given that it has suffered a lot of movement and many alterations," said Jorge Garcia Gomez-Tejedor, the museum's head of conservation.

"You could compare it to a major medical checkup in the sense that it needs to be constantly monitored and watched over."

Every night after the museum shuts its doors — and on Tuesdays when the museum is closed — 'Pablito' as the robotic mechanism has been dubbed, is dragged out and placed roughly a meter from the 27-sq. meter (291-sq. foot) painting.

Throughout the night the 9-meter (30-ft.) long, 5-meter (16-ft.) tall structure weighing 1.5 tons painstakingly scans the masterpiece, slowly compiling photographic DNA.

It can be programmed to take the camera lenses closer or farther away from the painting depending on the shot needed and has a precision of movement of 25 microns, or 25 thousandths of a millimeter, allowing analysts to see even air bubbles and scratches undetectable by the human eye.

"It will give us untold information about the painting," said Humberto Duran, the restoration computer technician who presided over the project's design. Duran said the process will give a complete view of the painting's underlying preparatory drawings and all the later touchups it was subjected to.

"The principal idea behind the project is to be able to present to the scientific world and the public the state of conservation of the painting," said Garcia Gomez-Tejedor. He said that for the moment "Guernica" does not need to be restored.

The cost of the machine has not been revealed but leading newspaper El Pais said it was close to euro300,000 ($400,000).

The painting underwent a similar photographic combing in 1998 albeit with much less advanced camera equipment and without the precision of the robotic machine. That study turned up 129 imperfections — ranging from cracks to creases to marks and stains — all attributed to the painting's hectic past.

Picasso created "Guernica" as a commission for Spain's Republican government to represent the country at a Universal Exposition in Paris in 1937, as Spain writhed in a bloody civil war started by future dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.

The painting then went on the road for nearly 20 years, visiting dozens of cities on both sides of the Atlantic. Every time it was moved it had to be taken off its support and rolled up, a process that took its toll over the years.

The painting made its final trip when it was transferred to Spain in 1981 from New York's Museum of Modern Art, where it had been deposited on a long-term loan by Picasso until democracy was restored in Spain.

For fear of attack, it was initially housed behind bullet-proof glass and under armed guard at the Prado Museum in Madrid before it was eventually transferred to the Reina Sofia.

Picasso was a world-renowned figure at the time of its composition and the work quickly became an artistic and political icon.

The oil-on-canvas piece comprises tormented and distorted figures — human and animal — and represents the horrors of mechanized war. It took its name from Guernica, the ancestral capital of northern Spain's Basque country, which was bombed on April 26, 1937, a spring market day, by German and Italian air forces supporting Franco in a civil war that set the stage for World War II.

Although estimates of the number of people killed in the bombing vary greatly, town historians say local records show at least 120 deaths.

The Basque region has long demanded that the painting be moved there, at least temporarily, but both the Reina Sofia and Spain's parliament flatly refuse.

"The painting is very fragile, its format is big and complex, any movement would involve a lot of risk." said Garcia Gomez-Tejedor.

via: yahoo

Artist's incredible bonsai tree houses

Artist's incredible bonsai tree houses

Artist's incredible bonsai tree houses, Tiny Kingdoms: Artist crafts bonsai like you’ve never seen before, Takanori Aiba spends more than a year on the pieces, which feature Lilliputian architecture. If you think all bonsai look like mini trees in somebody's zen garden, you haven't seen Takanori Aiba's pieces yet. The Japanese artist combines bonsai art form with Lilliputian architecture design to create some of the most stunning pieces you will ever see.

On his website, Aiba says his crossover creations are the fruit of his days as a (plain) bonsai maker and maze illustrator. None of his designs are derived from real structures — all of them are products of his imagination. But because the details are so elaborate, people usually think he copies the designs of real buildings.

So just how much time does he take to create one of these exactly? Aiba tells Tecca that each piece is so detailed, it takes him anywhere from three months to a year and a half. The bonsai in the first image below took him six months to finish, while the one in the second picture called Hawaiian Pineapple Resort took him a full year.

Unfortunately, you have to go to Japan if you want to see these artworks in person. Aiba is looking for more opportunities to exhibit his work, though one of his pieces called Hotel de Michelin is currently displayed in his restaurant in Tokyo.

via: yahoo

Photographer captures worlds in water drops

Photographer captures worlds in water drops

Photographer captures worlds in water drops, Photos: Worlds in water drops, Beauty and precision mark these photographs of images reflected in tiny, perfect globes of water. Markus Reugels can capture the world in a drop of water, not to mention Venus, Mars and the moon. Reugels is a floor installer and hobbyist photographer in Marktsteinach, Germany, but "hobby" doesn't begin to convey the beauty and precision of his photographs of images reflected in tiny, perfect globes of water.

Liquid Drop Art

Liquid Drop Art

Liquid Drop Art, Artist makes splash with water photos, Corrie White uses a medicine dropper and food dye to capture moments that are usually "invisible." Corrie White, the artist behind Liquid Drop Art, has a talent for capturing the surreal impact of a water droplet. White’s photographs allow viewers to see something that would normally be “invisible to the human eye.” Most of the water droplets were created with a medicine dropper and food dyes. According to the White’s bio, the “forms of water and milk shapes are pure and unedited.”

Valentine’s Day dress made with 1,725 flowers unveiled

Valentine’s Day dress made with 1,725 flowers unveiled

Valentine’s Day dress made with 1,725 flowers unveiled, He loves me, he loves me not, Horti-couture takes on a new meaning with this two-stone Valentine's gown made entirely of roses. Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and ASDA are making sure we are all get into the loving spirit after unveiling this stunning strapless red gown made from 1,725 roses.

Weighing in at just under two stone, the “horti-couture” red gown took 170 hours to make and was created by 23-year-old Joe Massie.

The mermaid-style gown from ASDA and Massie, three-time winner of the RHS Chelsea Young Florist of the Year award, was made to help remind and inspire men and women across the UK to treat their loved one this Valentine’s Day with a bouquet of flowers.

The dress consists of petals from 1,000 Naomi red roses that cover the entire body, flowing down to the floor. Fifteen Carmen roses and 200 chrysanthemums, decorated with gold-leaf around the hip and skirt of the dress.

On the hem, Massie added petals from 150 Purple Power roses, 75 gerberas and 300 carnations.

Stephane Rolland’s 110 pound red dress at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week inspired Massie to create the extra special gown.

Describing his creation Massie said it was a “big challenge and incredible experience”.

“I wanted to embody everything a romantic bouquet of Valentine's Day flowers should be - classic, elegant and with a sexy twist.”

Theresa Tyrell, buying manager of houseplants and flowers at Asda, said: "It's no surprise men told us they needed a little inspiration this Valentine's Day so we have joined forces with award-winning floral designer Joe to create an incredible dress made of first-class flowers, including roses, chrysanthemums, gerberas and carnations, all picked from our Valentine's bouquet collection."

via: yahoo

Elizabeth Taylor’s Van Gogh Goes for Millions at Auction

Elizabeth Taylor’s Van Gogh Goes for Millions at Auction

Elizabeth Taylor’s Van Gogh Goes for Millions at Auction, Elizabeth Taylor's art sells for millions, One masterpiece from the late Hollywood icon’s collection fetches an eight-figure sum. Say this for Elizabeth Taylor: She had great taste. Masterpieces by Vincent Van Gogh, Camille Pissarro, and Edgar Degas from her private collection were auctioned off at Christie's in London for millions. The oil paintings were expected to fetch around than $13 million. It turns out that estimate was a wee bit low. All told, the three paintings brought in over $21 million.

While each is a masterpiece and worth a fortune on its own, the fact that they belonged to the late Hollywood icon added a tidy premium to the final cost.

Of Taylor's three paintings up for auction, the Van Gogh brought in the most money. The Dutch master's "Vue de L'Asile de la Chapelle de Saint-Rémy" was painted in 1889 in Saint-Rémy. The painting came to Taylor through her father, who bought it at auction in 1963. According to the U.K.'s Guardian, Taylor's father paid $146,000, then a relatively modest sum. It ended up selling for an astounding $15,961,211, well above even the most ambitious estimate.

The Guardian interviewed Giovanna Bertazzoni, head of impressionist and modern art at Christie's. He remarked that Taylor's Van Gogh is "beautiful and very jolly, but it's got an intense tragic element. It's a view of the asylum where Van Gogh confined himself before killing himself six months later. It's the first time he was allowed out in the fields after six months in a cell, so he's drunk with joy and colour and happiness. There is also an element of tragic humanity which she empathised with."

News of the auction inspired renewed Web interest in Van Gogh. Over the past several hours, online lookups for "vincent van gogh" jumped 50% on Yahoo!.

This isn't the first time some of Taylor's possessions have been auctioned off. Late last year, some of her jewels, film memorabilia, and personal possessions were auctioned for more than $156 million, a total that far exceeded even the most ambitious projections.

via: yahoo

'Mona Lisa' find raises more questions

'Mona Lisa' find raises more questions

'Mona Lisa' find raises more questions, Spain: What the 'Mona Lisa' Contemporary Copy Reveals, Infrared images of a copy of the famous work in a Spanish museum stump experts. The most mysterious painting in the history of European art just got a little more mysterious. For centuries, Madrid's Prado Museum has held what was believed to be a mere replica of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa. But researchers at the museum recently discovered that their copy wasn't just any copy. 

Thanks to the use of infrared technology, they deduced that the work was not only painted in Leonardo's workshop, by one of his students, but that it was done at the same time as the master was completing the original.

Although the copy, which depicts La Gioconda with a narrower face, redder dress and significantly more pronounced eyebrows than the original, has been in the Prado's collection for centuries, no one thought much of it, and it was generally attributed to an unknown Flemish artist. But when the Prado's conservators began to study it in preparation for an upcoming show in Paris, they realized there might be more to the work than previously recognized. 

Using infrared technology, they detected a lush Tuscan landscape -- the same as in Leonardo's original -- hiding beneath the coat of black varnish that had been added probably in the 18th century and obscured the original background.

That wasn't all they found. Infrared reflectography can reveal the sketches -- called underdrawings -- and changes that a painter makes in the course of composing a work. By comparing reflectography images taken of the Mona Lisa in 2004 with the copy (they matched), Prado conservators determined that the replica was painted while Leonardo was himself still at work on the original. "There is textual evidence from contemporary observers that Leonardo had assistants in his workshop making copies," says Miguel Falomir, the Prado's curator of Italian Renaissance art. "This is the first time we've found technical evidence of it as well."

The painting is still being cleaned and restored, but the findings were presented two weeks ago at a technical conference for specialists held in conjunction with the blockbuster Leonardo exposition currently on show at the National Gallery in London. The reaction from experts in the field has been unanimously positive. "So far, I haven't heard one discordant voice," says Falomir.

Which isn't to say that the discovery hasn't raised questions, including who painted it and when. "It had to have been a pupil, and someone very close to Leonardo at the time," says Matthew Landrus, art historian at Oxford University and the Rhode Island School of Design. "And no one was closer than Andrea Salai and Francesco Melzi." Still, he points out, that there is no definite evidence of their work. Salai, who some historians believe became Leonardo's lover, entered the workshop in 1490; Melzi, who the Prado believes to be the likelier author, joined around 1506.

But the bigger question is why Leonardo would have had his students replicating his work in the first place. Certainly the practice of making copies was not unique to him; many Renaissance artists had their students attempt to recreate their work. The reason may have been pedagogical, but more likely, says Falomir, it was financial. "When people think about these great geniuses creating, they forget that even these artists had to eat. Selling copies was a way of earning money."

Landrus suggests it may have been more than that. After all, the Mona Lisa was still in Leonardo's possession when he died. It was never turned over to Francesco del Giocondo, the man who, according to 16th century biographer Giorgio Vasari, had commissioned the portrait of his wife, Lisa Gherardini, in celebration of the birth of their second son. "It's possible that Leonardo realized, 'Hey, I've got a pretty good painting here,' and had the copy made so he could keep something for himself," says Landrus. "Only later did he recognize that he didn't have to give the original away."

But Alison Wright, a specialist in Italian art at University College London who attended the meeting where the Prado discovery was presented, sees the copying as contemporary recognition of Leonardo's importance. "It's just conceivable that there was a copy made to sell, but it's an odd painting, and a commissioned portrait, so it's hard to imagine what the market would be," she says. "It's more likely that it was a matter of Leonardo's students recording his every movement, even while they were still falling from his brush."

The discovery is already causing art historians to re-examine their understanding of how Leonardo's studio functioned, and to revise the picture they have of how the most famous painting in Western art captured a singular moment between sitter and artist. "Once again," says Wright, "we see that technical analysis can shed light on a case we thought was shut."

But if the Prado copy raises new mysteries, it also clarifies some things. The newly restored copy, with its gleaming landscape in the background and sharp lines defining the spindle of the chair and the ruffle of the bodice, fills in details obscured by the yellowing varnish on the real Mona Lisa. "The original hasn't been restored in a long time," says Prado curator Falomir. "The copy invites you to see it with new eyes."

via: yahoo

Odd exhibit features paintings by animals

Odd exhibit features paintings by animals

Odd exhibit features paintings by animals, Animal artists in the UK, A collection of paintings by elephants, chimpanzees, and apes sparks debate about the nature of art. Chimpanzees, elephants and apes are involved in one of London's most unusual art exhibitions, the animals instead of being the subjects, are in fact the artists.

Negative Woman illusion

Negative Woman illusion

Negative Woman illusion, science behind negative illusion, Science behind 'negative image' illusion, Negative Woman, We see her true colors.Stare at this picture long enough, and your brain and eyes will play an impressive visual trick on you.

Animal artists in the UK

Animal artists in the UK

Animal artists in the UK, Odd exhibit features paintings by animals, A collection of paintings by elephants, chimpanzees, and apes sparks debate about the nature of art. Chimpanzees, elephants and apes are involved in one of London's most unusual art exhibitions, the animals instead of being the subjects, are in fact the artists.

Science behind negative image illusion

Science behind negative image illusion

Science behind negative image illusion, science behind negative illusions, Science behind 'negative image' illusion, Negative Woman, We see her true colors.Stare at this picture long enough, and your brain and eyes will play an impressive visual trick on you.

'Disappearing' artist hides in plain sight

'Disappearing' artist hides in plain sight

'Disappearing' artist hides in plain sight, Amazing Pictures Transform Artist into “Disappearing Woman”. Cecilia Parades uses body paint, makeup, and costumes to achieve her eerie transformations.