24 de março de 2014

Rembrandt - "The Soap Bubble Boy" is back Home

Rembrandt - "Soap Bubble Boy"
60x40cm
It reminded me some of the works of Jean-Baptiste Chardin who later on the 18th century also used the children amusement with Soap Bubbles to enlight his paintings.

But this Rembrandt's special Soap Bubble Boy has a stolen history associated.
In 1999, this painting was stolen from a museum nearby the city of Draguignan, in France, probably targeted by art connoisseurs, so the police thought. At the time police believed that the thieves escaped through a back door in the museum during the town's Bastille Day celebrations and since then the picture was never seen again.
15 years later, last week, the picture was recovered  in Nice, while it was being traded by two art dealers, on the black market, who later were arrested. 
Estimated on 3.9 million euros it seems that the burglars were expecting an huge profit with the selling of unique pieces which involves millions annually.

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