The Art Thief
Trade cloth edition in very good condition. Dust jacket with intact price point. Full number line starting with 1. Mylar cover included.
“Knowing when not to take an item, however deflating, is mandatory for a thief expecting career longevity.”
For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriendf’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.
This is a story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
Trade cloth edition in very good condition. Dust jacket with intact price point. Full number line starting with 1. Mylar cover included.
“Knowing when not to take an item, however deflating, is mandatory for a thief expecting career longevity.”
For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriendf’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.
This is a story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
Trade cloth edition in very good condition. Dust jacket with intact price point. Full number line starting with 1. Mylar cover included.
“Knowing when not to take an item, however deflating, is mandatory for a thief expecting career longevity.”
For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriendf’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.
This is a story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
ISBN 978-0-525-65732-3
Michael Finkel
2023