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Crimes of the Art

On this week’s art crime blotter: Banksy stencil rats were destroyed in Melbourne, an art dealer accused his former partners of selling him $30 million worth of fakes, and a philanthropist sued to get the millions she’d donated to a museum back.

Posted inNews

Crimes of the Art

On this week’s art crime blotter: a Chinese artist was reprimanded for his “sexual calligraphy” videos, a $20-million trove of stolen art was seized in Istanbul, and a relic containing a drop of Pope John Paul II’s blood was stolen from Cologne Cathedral.

Posted inNews

Crimes of the Art

On this week’s art crime blotter: people pillaged stones from the quarry where Stonehenge’s giant rocks were sourced, the certificate of authenticity of a Lee Ufan painting recently sold at auction was found to be fake, and a curator bit a fellow passenger on an airplane.

Posted inNews

Crimes of the Art

On this week’s art crime blotter: a mural of rainbows accused of containing “emblems of homosexuality” in Riyadh, a librarian confesses he stole 143 paintings and replaced them with his own forgeries, and a museum director gets shot in Moscow.