Art theft does pay

(CNN) -- The FBI said Monday it believes it knows who was behind one of the most significant art heists in the United States -- the 1990 theft of 13 precious works, once valued at $500 million, from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

A couple of big catches in the announcement: The FBI didn't reveal the suspects' names, said that the statute of limitations has run out so it can't charge anyone with the theft and that the artwork still hasn't been recovered.

The FBI said the suspects "are members of a criminal organization with a base in the mid-Atlantic states and New England."

The bureau also said it believes the artwork -- including paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer -- was taken to Connecticut and the Philadelphia area and that the thieves unsuccessfully tried to sell some of the artwork in Philadelphia about 10 years ago.

Charges still could be brought in the future against anyone holding the stolen masters. But authorities suggested the possibility of immunity would be considered should someone involved in keeping the art hidden away come forward and help the FBI to recover it.

"After the attempted sale ... the FBI's knowledge of the art's whereabouts is limited," the FBI said in a statement released Monday. At a Boston news conference, reporters pressed the FBI to name the suspected thieves, but officials declined, saying doing so might harm the ongoing investigation.

The announcement comes on the 23rd anniversary of the theft, which the FBI says is one of the largest property crimes in U.S. history.

In March 1990 two men posing as Boston police officers entered the museum in the middle of the night and tied up two watchmen. Among the the stolen items was a painting called "The Concert" by Johannes Vermeer, one of only 34 known paintings by the Dutch artist. Also pilfered were works by Rembrandt, Manet and Degas. Many view this as the single greatest art heist of all time.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said she has visited the Dutch Room at the museum several times and has seen the empty frames where the paintings once hung. "I was reminded of the enormous impact of this theft," said Ortiz. "I do remain optimistic that one day soon the paintings will be returned to their rightful place."

The FBI says it's releasing the new details of the probe in part to remind people of a $5 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the items in good condition. The FBI's publicity effort will include a website devoted to the Gardner Museum robbery and the use of social networks and advertising on digital billboards in the Philadelphia region. Anyone with tip may call the FBI at 800-CALL-FBI or contact the agency online at https://tips.fbi.gov.

CNN's Devon Sayers and Susan Chun contributed to this report.

Rembrando

London (CNN) -- A mystery portrait donated to a British heritage charity as part of a mixed lot of paintings has been identified as a work by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn -- worth more than $30 million.

The picture, dated 1635, shows the then 29-year-old artist in a black velvet cape and hat decorated with outsized ostrich feathers. It was given to the National Trust in 2010, along with four other artworks.

At the time it was thought to have been painted by one of Rembrandt's pupils, but new tests and research by leading Rembrandt scholar Ernst van de Wetering have shown it is more likely to be by the teacher himself.

"Over the years, it has gone back and forward," David Taylor, the National Trust's curator of paintings and sculpture, told CNN. "Decades ago it was thought to be a Rembrandt, and then the experts said no, that it was by someone in his studio instead."

Van de Wetering, chairman of the Rembrandt Research Project, said the painting was last examined in 1968, and that in the intervening years "we have gathered far more knowledge about Rembrandt's self-portraits and the fluctuations in his style."

He said that X-ray analysis, along with "newly found circumstantial evidence remarkably increased the likelihood that the painting was by Rembrandt himself," and that a recent close look at the picture had confirmed those suspicions.

We never dared think that it might actually be an original; many of our visitors will have just passed by it
Jez McDermott, National Trust

 

The painting was given to the Trust by the estate of Edna, Lady Samuel of Wych Cross, whose late husband Harold, Lord Samuel of Wych Cross was a keen art collector and philanthropist.

"It was part of a very generous gift, of five top-notch paintings," Taylor explained. As well as the Rembrandt portrait, the donation also included two peasant scenes and two maritime scenes.

But while the Trust recognized that the portrait was a high-quality work, it was not put on display at Buckland Abbey, in Devon, southwest England, immediately.

"It was in storage at first," explained Taylor. "Though not because it was unloved, more because we were waiting for the right place for it -- we wanted to get the display right."

"It's amazing to think we might have had an actual Rembrandt hanging here on the walls at Buckland Abbey for the past couple of years," Jez McDermott, property manager at Buckland Abbey, said in a statement.

"We never dared think that it might actually be an original, and many of our visitors will have just passed by it, in what is sure to be a real contrast to the attention it is now going to receive."

The self-portrait, the only Rembrandt in the National Trust's huge collection of 13,500 paintings, will remain on display at Buckland Abbey until the end of the tourist season -- where it is expected to attract plenty of visitors -- and will then be sent for further tests to help confirm its new identity.

"It will undergo a full clean, and technical analysis," said Taylor. "It is painted on a beech panel, so dendrochronology [tree ring dating] will allow us to date the panel, and it will be X-rayed to check for under-drawings.

"The paint will be analyzed, so we can see if the pigments match those used by Rembrandt, and when it comes back to us in the new year, we should have the final confirmation."

But the National Trust cannot sell it.

 

FBI: 1990 art heist cracked