If you think multi-million-dollar works of art can only disappear dramatically from locked museums in Hollywood movies, think again.
In a theft which showcased the poor security at Ukrainian museums that house scores of masterpieces, a prized 16thcentury painting by Italian Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was stolen from Odesa’s Western and Eastern Art Museum last week.
Lax security was compounded by negligence. Authorities don’t even know precisely when the crime took place – only that it was between 6 p.m. on July 29 and early on July 31.
The missing painting is known by two names: The Taking of Christ and The Kiss of Judas. It is estimated to be worth millions of dollars, perhaps up to $100 million. An earlier work by Caravaggio, Apollo the Lute Player, fetched $110 million at Sotheby’s in 2001.
