The Largest Unsolved Modern Day Art Heist

Care to make $10 million dollars? You can, if you solve the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist from 1990 where 13 pieces of art were taken by two men disguised as police officers. To this day, it remains the largest unsolved art heist and its total value to be north of $500 million dollars.

So, how did they do it? Beginning roughly at 1:24 am of March 18th, 1990, in the span of 81 minutes two men stole some of the most famous paintings in the world, including a Vermeer, 3 Rembrandt’s, 5 Degas’, a Manet, and a Flinck. They entered the museum under the guise of police officers and subdued the two on shift night guards, Rick Abath, who was 23 at the time, and Randy Hestand, who was 25. The two guards were brought into the basement of the museum where they were discovered hours later by police searching the building.

Rembrandt van Rijn's "Christ In The Storm On The Sea Of Galilee." (Courtesy Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)

Of the 13 missing pieces of art, one was called The Concert, by Johannes Vermeer and is one of only 34 known works of art by the Dutch Baroque artist, and Christ In The Storm On The Sea Of Galilee, which is the only seascape ever painted by Rembrandt. The thieves also took artifacts, an ancient Chinese ‘gu’, which is a large bronze vessel used for drinking, and a French Imperial Eagle.

The empty frames from the stolen paintings remain hung in the museum as an ode to the heist and those pieces, but also as a sign of hope. Hope that one day they will be returned to the museum where they once were on display. In 1995 the statute of limitations expired leaving the thieves and any co-conspirators safe from prosecution. So, if you have any leads, now is the perfect time to come forward!

Scroll to see images of all the art pieces that were taken. Anyone with information should contact Director of Security, Anthony Amore at 617-278-5114 or email him at theft@gardnermuseum.org

*All images are courtesy of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum