The Artful Jurist

Rembrandt is one of my absolute favorites among the great master painters.  Those expression-filled faces staring out of the dark truly move me.

However, I've never been so moved by any work of art as to consider stealing it.  But, apparently, Rembrandt just has that special kind of appeal to those for whom the illegality of pilfering great works of art just doesn't seem like that big a deal.

According to an article in ArtNews, at least 81 thefts of Rembrandt paintings have been documented over the years.  I'm not sure if that's a record, but it's a number that certainly catches my attention.  (Just for comparison purposes, 81 is one more than the entire number of planes Germany's famed Red Baron shot down during World War I, and he held the record among WWI flying aces.)

According to the article, the most frequently stolen work of art is Rembrandt's painting, Jacob de Gheyn III, which has been taken by thieves four different times, earning it the nickname, "Takeaway Rembrandt."