Lost & Found

“Italy Heritage Sleuths Launch Stolen Art App”

“Italy Heritage Sleuths Launch Stolen Art App” 

by AFP via “France 24”

Italy's top art detectives, global experts in finding stolen works, launched a smartphone app Wednesday to get people to collaborate on cracking crimesItaly's top art detectives, global experts in finding stolen works, launched a smartphone app Wednesday to get people to collaborate on cracking crimes

“Italy’s top art detectives, global experts in finding stolen works, launched a smartphone app Wednesday to get people to collaborate on cracking crimes.

The application, which will be available to download from AndroidMarket and AppleStore soon, was “thought up and created for citizens”, according to Mariano Mossa, the head of Italy’s heritage police.

“It represents a first for those who hope to contribute to the fight against heritage crimes,” he said at a press presentation of the new app.

Users who come across works of art they suspect have been stolen can take a photograph of it and send it straight to the police, who check in real time whether it matches any of the works in their archives. (more…)

Stolen Masterpieces Worth $50M Found in Auto Worker’s Home

“Stolen Masterpieces Worth $50M Found in Auto Worker’s Home”

by Clark Benson via “ABC News”

Stolen Masterpieces Worth $50M Found in Auto Worker's Home (ABC News)

A pair of stolen masterpiece paintings valued at $50 million have been recovered after being bought at an auction for $25 and hung in an auto worker’s kitchen for years.

The masterworks were described as Paul Gauguin’s “Still Life of Fruit on a Table With a Small Dog” and Pierre Bonnard’s “The Girl With Two Chairs.” They were stolen from the home of a British couple in 1970.

An unnamed Fiat employee, described by police as a “lover of art,” bought the two paintings in an auction of items left in the lost and found department of the national railway. The paintings were reportedly left behind on a train from Paris to Turin and were never claimed. Railway authorities put them up for auction in 1975. (more…)

“3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt”

3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt

by Owen Jarus via “Live Science“

3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt

A tomb newly excavated at an ancient cemetery in Egypt would have boasted a pyramid 7 meters (23 feet) high at its entrance, archaeologists say.

 The tomb, found at the site of Abydos, dates back around 3,300 years. Within one of its vaulted burial chambers, a team of archaeologists found a finely crafted sandstonesarcophagus, painted red, which was created for a scribe named Horemheb. The sarcophagus has images of several Egyptian gods on it and hieroglyphic inscriptions recording spells from the Book of the Dead that helped one enter the afterlife.

There is no mummy in the sarcophagus, and the tomb was ransacked at least twice in antiquity. Human remains survived the ransacking, however. Archaeologists found disarticulated skeletal remains from three to four men, 10 to 12 women and at least two children in the tomb. [Gallery: See Images of the Newly Found Tomb]

Newly discovered pyramid

The chambers that the archaeologists uncovered would have originally resided beneath the surface, leaving only the steep-sided pyramid visible.

“Originally, all you probably would have seen would have been the (more…)

“WWII Artifact Returns Home to Japan”

“WWII Artifact Returns Home to Japan”

via “KHON2″

“After almost 80 years, a piece of naval history is on its way home to Japan.

At the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, the special shipment is underway.

Crews from Chicago, New Jersey, and as far away as Japan, are making sure an 11-foot, 1,600-pound replica of the Japanese luxury liner Hikawa Maru doesn’t get damaged.

The Japanese built the model 79 . . . .”

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“One of Van Gogh’s Last Paintings Unveiled”

“One of Van Gogh’s Last Paintings Unveiled”

by Mary Alice Parks via “ABC News“

“A spectacularly vibrant Vincent van Gogh painting was unveiled today at the National Gallery of Art in Washington after going private nearly 50 years ago.

The work, “Green Wheat Fields, Auvers,” is particularly exciting for art historians because the famous Dutch painter completed it just weeks before he died in France in 1890 at age . . . .”

I actually adore this painting; the blues and greens combined into an excellent group of harmonious colors.  And I’m amazed at the way the change in style from small raked lines in the grass to larger swirls in the sky is an excellent contrast. This is probably one of my favorites of Van Gogh’s works.