> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Crimes of the Art - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/crimes-of-the-art-41/ - Published: 2015-12-09T00:32:09.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T15:58:54.000Z - Description: On this week’s art crime blotter: Ukrainian militias flood the market with stolen paintings, a museum security guard is sacked for on-the-job vandalism, and a British art forger does it for love. - Author: Benjamin Sutton - Tags: News, Art Crime, Boston Public Library, Crimes of the Art, Vandalism, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:13 (2014, 2015, part 3) ![One of the works stolen from the Westfries Museum in 2005 and allegedly being offered for sale by Ukrainian nationalist militias: Hendrik Bogaert, "Peasants (1671–75). (courtesy the Westfries Museum)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/12/art-crimes-westfries-museum.jpg) One of the works stolen from the Westfries Museum in 2005 and allegedly being offered for sale by Ukrainian nationalist militias: Hendrik Bogaert, “Peasants (1671–75). (courtesy the Westfries Museum) [*Crimes of the Art*](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/crimes-of-the-art/) *is a weekly survey of artless criminals’ cultural misdeeds. Crimes are rated on a highly subjective scale from one “Scream” emoji — the equivalent of a vandal tagging the exterior of a local history museum in a remote part of the US — to five “Scream” emojis — the equivalent of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist.* ## Ukrainian Militias Hawk Hot Paintings ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-3.jpg) Officials from the [Westfries Museum](http://wfm.nl/gestolen-kunst/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in Hoorn, near Amsterdam, believe 24 Dutch Golden Age paintings that were stolen from the institution in 2005 are [being sold on the black market](http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/dec/07/stolen-dutch-paintings-sale-ukrainian-militia?ref=hyperallergic.com) by members of Ukraine’s far-right, ultra-nationalist militia. **Verdict:** Those Ukrainian militiamen must not know much about the art market — they’d get more money for fake Murakamis than for tattered Dutch Golden Age paintings. ## Soccer-Loving Museum Guard Gets Red Card ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-1.jpg) A guard at the Louvre-Lens — the Parisian mega-museum’s outpost in northern France — was [fired and fined](http://www.lefigaro.fr/arts-expositions/2015/12/03/03015-20151203ARTFIG00233-louvre-lens-un-vigile-tague-fuck-the-losc-dans-le-musee.php?ref=hyperallergic.com) €750 (\~$817) for writing “Fuck the LOSC” in pen on a wall text placard in the special exhibition [*d’Or et d’Ivoire*](http://www.louvrelens.fr/en/-/d-or-et-d-ivoire?ref=hyperallergic.com). The acronym in the tag refers to the soccer team of nearby Lille, a bitter rival of Lens’s own RC Lens. **Verdict:** A juvenile pen tag won’t change the fact that Lille OSC is in the first division of the French soccer league and RC Lens is in the second. ## Forging for Love ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-3.jpg) Sheridan Tandy, a collector and former art lecturer at East London University, confessed to [forging prints](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12038215/Art-collector-tried-to-sell-fake-prints-at-Sothebys-to-fund-Brazillian-lovers-visa.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) by the British artists Leonard Beaumont and Cyril Power and trying to consign them to Bonhams and Sotheby’s to help pay for his Brazilian lover’s UK visa. **Verdict:** So what if his methods were illegal — it’s the thought that counts, right? ## Cartographic Cat Burglar’s Loot Returned ![The Boston Public Library's recently returned "Geographic Map of New France" (1612) (screenshot by the author via @BPLBoston/Twitter)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/12/boston-public-art-crimes.jpg) The Boston Public Library’s recently returned “Geographic Map of New France” (1612) (image via @BPLBoston/Twitter) (click to enlarge) ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-2.jpg) The so-called “Geographic Map of New France,” which was drawn by Quebec City founder Samuel de Champlain in 1612 and is one of the earliest depictions by a European of what would eventually become Canada, has been [returned to the Boston Public Library](http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/rare-early-map-of-canada-drawn-by-samuel-de-champlain-in-1612-recovered-after-theft-by-collector?ref=hyperallergic.com). It was stolen from the institution by prolific map collector and thief E. Forbes Smiley in 2005 and recently resurfaced in a New York antiques catalogue. **Verdict:** This news must make Smiley frowny. ## Sapphire Thief Strikes C-Town ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-1.jpg) A man stole several sapphires from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s mineral collection. Luckily the lifted gems are “not thought to be of significant material value,” according to [a museum spokesperson](http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/12/man%5Fsought%5Fin%5Ftheft%5Fof%5Fsapphir.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). **Verdict:** Next time go for the rubies, newbie.