In proportion to their fame, masterpieces of paintings have gone through various ordeals throughout the history. In most times, they rested proudly upon the honorable walls of the museums, but at other times, they had to wander in the hands of the unexpected, or suffer the disgrace of being terrorized. Even worse, some never came back to their places in the galleries since being torn unwillingly away from it.
One of the most famous art theft in the history was the robbery of
, the world's most widely known masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci, which occurred in 1911. The painting which was held in the halls of Musée du Louvre in Paris was stolen by an Italian patriot, Vincenzo Peruggia, who believed Leonardo's painting should be returned back to its native country. The theft of the piece France adored so much shocked the French people, and it took 2 years for to return to the bosom of Louvre.
Jan Vermeer's works, which only 30 of them remain today, have also been targets of ‘Art napping’ frequently due to its’ scarcity in numbers. One of them is , which was stolen and held as a hostage for demanding aid for the refugees of Eastern Pakistan in 1971. What’s more, the piece was severely ruined when it came back, due to being roughly torn off the wooden frame of the canvas. was robbed by a female terrorist in 1974, and thieved again in 1986. The two paintings have come back, not perhaps safely in the case of though, but , which is missing since the theft in 1990 at Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Boston, has still not been found yet.
Along with art napping, vandalism has also been one of the major ordeals of masterpieces. , a Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo, was once hammered by an Australian geologist named Laszlo Toth, who presumably was mentally disturbed. The attack resulted in a serious damage, a broken nose and an arm of the Virgin, and restoration work was needed. The masterpiece of by Diego Velazquez was slashed in 1914 by a suffragette called Mary Richardson. She claimed that her actions were a sign of objection about the way female nude had degenerated into entertainment of men. In 1987, a veteran shot of Leonardo Davinci, which hung in the National Gallery in London. The blast caused a significant damage of 15cm. The criminal refused to speak of the motive of the crime. The said painting also suffered another attack in 1963 previously when an artist threw a inkbottle on the painting.
The art napping and vandalism of masterpieces root from various reasons. Robberies are mainly due to the astronomical value of the paintings in the market, and sometimes are to hold them as a hostage for the accomplishment of a social, political purpose. On the other hand, vandalisms mostly occur due to political reasons. It is an extreme expression of radical movements, trying to have their way through by destroying the nation’s cultural heritage.
Society needs to have awareness and precaution regarding the threats over the masters’ works. It will be the society’s duty to thrive for the protection and preservation of their treasures of art, and hand them safely down to the future generation. If these masterpieces are lost or permanently damaged due to negligence of the society, it would be infringing the rights of our descendants who equally have the right to appreciate the invaluable masterpieces just as us the contemporaries.
written by: Kang Hyojin
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