Glossary: Art theft

2 years after having been stolen, Edvard Munch painting “The Scream” was recovered by the Swedish police. This is one of the world’s great iconic paintings and is considered to be the third most recognisable painting by the general public.

But why steal such a painting in the first place? What do you do with it once you have stolen it? You can’t sell it, tell your friends or display it. It can only be yours to look at in the privacy of a very secure room. It’s a strange thing to want to do but there are a few multi-billionaires willing to go down that road.

Art theft in general is relatively rare thank goodness, but it does happen. These days with the rise of the internet, Thesaurus and most auction houses being online it is very difficult to dispose of “hot property”. The means of getting rid of ill gotten gains have been reduced to a minimum. Most people these days would worry about being offered “a nice little picture by some geezer called Constable” down at their local public house. A Video recorder maybe, but a painting, I suspect not.

Paintings however do get stolen, and we at Room4art.com™ want to help people to take the best steps to ensure that if the worst happens then one major angle is covered.

Every time we sell a painting, a very high resolution image is available for you to download from Room4art.com™. This means that the image can be supplied to the police, auction houses and other parties so that if it ever comes on to the market then it will potentially be recognised. This image is also useful if you should be unlucky enough to have a fire or flood damage. It’s another form of insurance to go with your own policy, and best of all it’s free!

The vast majority of works sold at Room4art.com™ have a known provenance, having often been purchased from the artist or their descendants. The condition of every painting is fully detailed and has been photographed in extremely high resolution, so with the aid of our zoom facility you can examine every work in minute detail and there for buy with confidence.

©21st Century Gallery Ltd