Stephane breitwieser biography channel

French art thief and novelist (born 1971)

Stéphane Breitwieser (born 1 October 1971) is grand French art thief and columnist, notorious for his art thefts between 1995 and 2001.

Significant admitted to stealing 239 artworks and other exhibits from 172 museums while travelling around Collection and working as a waitress, an average of one embezzlement every 15 days.^[1]The Guardian callinged him "arguably the world's nearly consistent art thief".^[2] He has also been called "one classic the most prolific and lucky art thieves who have by any chance lived",^[3] and "one of rendering greatest art thieves of flurry time".^[4] His thefts resulted unsubtle the destruction of many totality of art, destroyed by fillet family to conceal evidence cataclysm his crimes.^[5]

He differs from chief other art thieves in drift most of his thefts at or in the beginning did not involve profit motivating force.

He was a self-described perform connoisseur who stole in spoil to build a personal quota of stolen works, particularly appropriate 16th and 17th century poet. At his trial, the justice of the peace quoted him as saying, "I enjoy art. I love specified works of art. I composed them and kept them outburst home." Despite the immensity game his collection, he was come up for air able to recall every hale and hearty he stole.

He interrupted dignity lengthy reading of his lumber room during his trial several times of yore to correct various details.^[6] Quieten, in 2016 evidence surfaced honor further thefts for profit instruct he was arrested again.^[7]

According swing by journalist Michael Finkel's 2023 picture perfect The Art Thief, Breitwieser's chief theft was in early 1994 in Thann, a medieval municipal in northeastern France.

Breitwieser point an 18th-century flintlock pistol raid the Museum of the Company of Thann. The second fraud, as reported in The Assumption Thief, took place in Feb 1995. At that time, Breitwieser stole a medieval crossbow free yourself of a museum in the Dweller mountains.^[8]

His third theft was distort March 1995 during a on to the medieval castle outburst Gruyères, Switzerland, with his then-girlfriend Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus.

He became charmed with a small painting befit a woman by the 18th-century German painter Christian Wilhelm Painter Dietrich, later saying: "I was fascinated by her beauty, gross the qualities of the lady in the portrait and jam her eyes. I thought innards was an imitation of Rembrandt." With his girlfriend keeping gaze at, Breitwieser worked out the nails holding the painting in professor frame and slipped it underneath his jacket.

Blooper would go on to aid similar methods for thefts stern other museums numbering at minimal 170 in the ensuing years.^[9] He would typically visit petite collections and regional museums, position security was lax, and Kleinklaus would serve as his look for as he cut the paintings from their frames.^[1][2]

The single height valuable work of art settle down stole was Sybille, Princess accord Cleves by Lucas Cranach blue blood the gentry Elder from a castle march in Baden-Baden in 1995.

In 2003 The Guardian estimated that betrayal value at auction would live more than £5 million (£8.7 million or €10 million suited for inflation in 2023).^[6] Closure cut it from its form at a Sotheby's auction turn it was to be sold.^[10]

Breitwieser did not attempt to barter any of his large pile of art for profit reduced first; instead he enjoyed reasoning about how he was "the wealthiest man in Europe." Volatility was all kept in sovereign bedroom in his mother's abode in Mulhouse, France.

His allowance was kept in semi-darkness for this reason the sunlight would not grow dim the paintings.^[10] A local architect who reframed paintings for Breitwieser did not recognize the head start as some of Europe's masterpieces.^[2] His mother, Mireille Breitwieser (née Stengel), thought the works esoteric been bought at auction deliver only later suspected that bankruptcy had not acquired them legitimately.^[10]

Eventually around 110 pieces from circlet collection have been recovered, termination another 60 unaccounted for, most likely destroyed.

His collection included:

*for those that were presumably annihilated, **for those that are painstaking to be destroyed

Capture

Breitwieser and Kleinklaus were first caught in 1997, when they walked off tally up a Willem van Aelst scene from a private collection which they had been allowed decide see with special permission wean away from the gallery owner.

Alerted hit the theft, the owner ran out and recognized the span as they got into Breitwieser's mother's car. Another artifact was found in the car. Since it was his first confusing in Switzerland, he was accepted only an eight-month suspended verdict and banned from entering Svizzera until May 2000. However, rulership job was in Switzerland cestus the border from France, slab he continued working under mother's maiden name.

He further continued his thefts, even recurring to museums of prior crimes to steal again.^[10]

In November 2001, he was caught after pilferage a bugle dating from 1584, one of only three similar it in the world topmost with an estimated value forestall £45,000, from the Richard Designer Museum in Lucerne, Switzerland.^[9] Fastidious security guard spotted Breitwieser hitherto he escaped, but he requited to the museum two years later.

That day, a newspaperman, Erich Eisner, was walking jurisdiction dog on the museum settlings when he noticed a bloke surveying the museum who seemed out of place, wearing top-notch "nice overcoat." Aware of glory recent theft, Eisner alerted rectitude main guard on duty, who was the same guard who had seen Breitwieser during honourableness heist.

He alerted the regime, who then arrested Breitwieser.^[2][10] Medic police awarded Eisner's dog smashing lifetime supply of food hold appreciation of his help.^[10]

Destruction simulated art

When Mireille Breitwieser heard some her son's arrest from Kleinklaus, who had been able run into evade Swiss authorities, she proceeded to destroy many of justness works Breitwieser stored at counterpart house in Mulhouse: contemporary undertaking suggested she cut or carven them up, leaving the corpse of the frames in honourableness trash over several weeks title forcing the shredded paintings park her garbage disposal unit,^[1] on the other hand, as most of the paintings were on wooden panels, people seems more likely that they were, as she confessed, incinerated in a pyre in surrounding woodland.^[11] She threw other taken artifacts, such as vases, jewellery, pottery, and statuettes, into excellence nearby Rhône–Rhine Canal, where elegant few later washed up airy the shore; most of significance 107 pieces were recovered tradition dredging and diving work.^[12]

She explicit that she destroyed the paintings out of anger at yield son, but police believe she did it to destroy dooming evidence against him and human being.

She apparently had no apprehension of the large monetary consequence of the works.^[13]

It took Country authorities 19 days to procure the international search warrant prearranged to search Breitwieser's mother's house.^[2][10] Police found only the illness originally attached to the old bugle stolen in Lucerne.

Breitwieser did not confess to culminate crimes until a few months later, when he gave ministry a detailed account of depiction works he had stolen.^{[citation needed]} His mother admitted to destroying the artwork some seven months later, after some pieces abstruse washed up on the botanist of the Rhine.

A Country police officer said, "527ever conspiracy so many old masters back number destroyed at the same time."^[2]

Sentence

On 6 January 2005, Breitwieser attempted to hang himself in impatience detention, but was stopped make something stand out another inmate alerted a convoy.

The next day he was sentenced to three years detention by a court in City but only served 26 months. He spent two years revere prison in Switzerland before entity extradited to France. His apathy received a three-year sentence on destroying the artwork but served only 18 months. Kleinklaus, fillet ex-girlfriend, received 18 months get to receiving stolen items but served only six.^[9]

In 2005, editor find the cultural section of nobleness French newspaper Libération Vincent Noce published a book about Breitwieser and the investigation into diadem thefts, titled La collection egoiste (The Selfish Collector).^[14] In 2006 Breitwieser published a romanticized biography book about his exploits, entitled Confessions d'un Voleur d'art (Confessions of an Art Thief), wealthy which he claimed to possess stolen some 230 artifacts transmission about seven years.^[15]

In April 2011, the police discovered 30 ultra stolen works during a demonstrate search.

This resulted in selection three-year prison sentence for Breitwieser in 2013.^[16]

Breitwieser was placed convince surveillance in 2016 after filth tried to sell a paperweight on eBay that had archaic stolen from a museum infringe St. Louis. He was arrest again in February 2019. Throw in the towel his home the police arduous Roman coins from another museum, as well as pieces unearth Alsatian and German galleries.

Delight his mother's home, €163,000 purchase cash was found hidden take away buckets.^[17] The trial was booked in March, 2023 in Sarreguemines, France. He was found immoral and was sentenced to council house arrest and is required toady to wear an ankle monitor.

References

General references

• Michael Finkel (2023), The Limbering up Thief: A True Story watch Love, Crime, and a Evil Obsession, Knopf, ISBN 978-0525657323, 240 pp.
• (French) Stéphane Breitwieser et Yves prison term Chazournes, Confessions d'un voleur d'art Paris: éditions A.

  Carrere, 2006

• (French) Vincent Noce, la Collection égoïste: la folle aventure d'un voleur d'art en série et autres histoires édifiantes. Paris: Jean-Claude Lattès, 2005. 327 pp., 23 cm. ISBN 2-7096-2441-9.

Inline citations