‘Europe loses art heritage to thieves’

Press, 28 July 1987, Page 11

‘Europe loses art heritage to thieves’

By

CLAUDE FILLET

NZPA-Reuter Lausanne

Western Europe is gradually losing its cultural heritage to thieves, said experts attending a meeting of the Council of Europe.

Cases of stolen national art reported to Interpol, the international criminal police organisation, had more than quadrupled in 20 years, the experts told a meeting on the art trade organised by the 21-nation Council of Europe. In 1965, Interpol received 58 art theft reports. In 1986, it had 255, of which 141 came from Italy. Emilio Napolitano, head of the department of the Italian carabinieri police, said burglars broke into churches more' frequently but stole less.

“The opposite is the case in private residences. Museums receive less attention, either because the objects they contain are too well known or because there is much closer supervision,” he said. Stolen items were quarantined before being recycled, Mr Napolitano said.

"During this period, the thieves make every effort to ensure that the stolen objects will not be recognised.”

The frame of a painting is changed to alter the size of a picture. If it was a triptych, the three parts were separated and framed separately for sale, he said. A large canvas may be cut into two or three smaller pictures. Thieves usually carefully restored paintings stolen from churches to remove the tell-tale patina caused by candle smoke.

“After an appropriate time, the stolen objects are channeled on to the legitimate market and sold, through an immense network of contacts ranging from illegality to semi-legality, ending up in the hands of gallery owners and dealers who are above suspicion.” Mr Napolitano said traditional police, methods of catching criminals were no use for art thieves. If they felt police were closing in they preferred to destroy the evidence. He recommended iden-

tification of all churches, museums, villas, castles, archeological sites and private collections which could tempt criminals. ; 1 ; “Appropriate measures must be taken to guard such premises, Including the use of electronic methods.” he said. A photographic record of each work of art in private collections should be made to thwart clandestine exporters,.

Inspection at French, Swiss, Austrian and Yugoslav borders was generally limited to examining export documents. Methods used by art traffickers included inserting a rolled picture on canvas into metal or cardboard tubes with advertising logos on the outside, or rolling it up in a carpet

Ceramic and wooden art objects were sometimes cut into sections for export and reassembled later for sale.

Delegates agreed improved surveillance and security was one of the best ways to reduce theft and called for closer international co-operation.