The Arsène Lupine of museums
Never has the expression that reality sometimes exceeds fiction been so appropriate with this work which is truly worth the detour.
It is, in fact, the incredible story of Stéphane BREITWIESER, this French art thief born in 1971, nicknamed “the Arsène Lupine of museums” who, in seven years, from 1997, will have carried out, with the complicity of his partner Anne-Catherine, more than two hundred museum extortions during which he was able to seize under the noses of the guards of nearly three hundred works of art representing loot of between 1.4 and 2 billion euros…
Very knowledgeable in historical and artistic matters, compulsive collector, this character describes himself as “liberator of art” and not as a common thief; in fact, he in no way monetized the proceeds of his thefts, but jealously guarded them for the pleasure of contemplating from his bed these treasures that could be a Cranach the Elder, or a Bruegel, one of his multiple fraudulent acquisitions.
-Struck, he said, by Stendhal syndrome and driven by a still unsatisfied passion, among other things, for Renaissance painting, he could not, he declared in his defense, resist in the face of such masterpieces. works towards the desire to possess them.
A journey full of twists and turns and anecdotes, each more juicy than the last, scrupulously dissected by Michaël FINKEL, an American journalist who met BREITWIESER to write this essay at the end of which the reader will learn with amazement what became of these paintings, jewels precious pieces, pieces of goldwork, statues etc… A must read, at least out of curiosity.
