Stolen Da Vinci is the tip of an iceberg

[dArKeR]

CARRONBRIDGE (Reuters) - In the hills above this tiny Scottish village stands a magnificent stately home.

Inside is a wall and on it an empty space, little bigger than a sheet of writing paper, that tells the story of an industry costing Britain up to 500 million pounds each year.

Until two months ago, the space was occupied by the "Madonna of the Yarnwinder," a 16th century painting credited to Leonardo Da Vinci.

But at the end of August, two men walked into Drumlanrig Castle, overpowered a security guard and pulled the Madonna off the wall.

They escaped over a castle wall, sped off in a white saloon car with two accomplices and have not been seen since.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/24by7panews/page.cfm?objectid=13557896&method=full&siteid=50143

[Vitruvius]

1. Probably stolen for a rich collector -- the Rethug rich are plundering

the world -- for artwork, oil, and anything else they can rip off.


From the article: "The amount of stolen works of art globally is staggering. The London-based Art Loss Register, which compiles a database of stolen art, has 145,000 items on its records, ranging from plates and silverware to paintings by Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Cezanne.

"More than 500 paintings and drawings by Picasso alone are missing, along with 300 by Chagall and over 200 by Renoir. 'Picasso is one of the world's most stolen artists, not only because he is such a popular name but because he was so prolific,' said Alexandra Smith, operations manager at the Art Loss Register.

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The Rethug rich are the new barbarians; they're looting humanity's cultural heritage on an industrial scale.