![]() In fact, it shocked the Catholic Church so much that they tried to buy up all the copies of the first edition of the work and have them all destroyed. Whether the Church succeeded in its puritanical mission, or whether one or more copies of the original survived the puritanical purge and are still out there, remains a source of considerable scholarly debate to this day. The artwork, entitled The Sixteen Pleasures, or sometimes referred to as I Modi ( The Ways) was actually a series of engravings created by Raimondi and then released in 1524. All of the elaborate engravings depicted different sexual acts and positions. Significantly, while other artists had made similar erotic works for private viewing, Raimondi intended his to be seen by the public. When Pope Clement VII learned of this, he was incensed. Wielding his Papal authority, he ordered his soldiers to locate and then destroy every set of the engravings. According to most accounts, they succeeded, and the Pope even had the artist briefly imprisoned.īut that doesn’t mean that the puritans had the last word. ![]() Within a few years, a second edition had been published. This time, the engravings were accompanied by erotic poems. In the 17 th century, enterprising printers at Oxford University in England made copies of their own, bringing The Sixteen Pleasures to a new generation. However, the hunt for the original 1524 artworks goes on. The Poor Poet by Carl Spitzweg was Hitler’s favorite painting and was stolen twice, and it still remains a missing masterpiece of its time Hitler’s favorite painting was stolen twice and is now possibly missing for good. It was reportedly Hitler’s favorite painting. Painted in 1839, Carl Spitzweg’s The Poor Poet was very much a product of its time. In it, the artist satirizes the bohemian gentlemen who felt they needed to suffer for their art. In its day, it was hugely popular, transforming Spitzweg from a pharmacist who painted in his spare time, to one of the most acclaimed artists in Germany. And while the Fuhrer’s admiration undoubtedly tarnished its reputation – after all, Hitler hardly had good taste in art, despite his pretenses – it remained popular. So popular, in fact, that it has been stolen not once but twice. On the first occasion, in 1976, a German performance artist stole The Poor Poet from off the walls of the New National Gallery in Berlin. ![]() He was chased by the museum guards but managed to get into his car and drive away. He then drove to a working-class neighborhood of Berlin and hung the famous painting up on the wall of an immigrant family’s home. The stunt was designed to highlight the discrimination Turkish newcomers were facing in German society at the time. Regardless of whether or not he succeeded, the painting was quickly recovered and returned to the museum. The painting was stolen again in 1989, however. This time, a visitor in a fake wheelchair managed to take this painting and another similarly small work by Spitzweg off the walls and smuggle them out right under the nose of the security guards. This time around, there was no happy ending. Neither of the paintings has been recovered. Moreover, since both works are compact and easy to hide, and since there was no CCTV back in 1989, it’s likely that Hitler’s favorite painting will remain missing, presumed lost for good. ![]() And, what’s more, these two aren’t the only Spitzweg paintings whose location is unknown. In all, some 36 works from the German artist’s vast output remain missing, almost all of them having been stolen.ĭid the mafia steal this massive masterpiece back in 1969? Wikimedia Commons. Lawrence by Caravaggio has been top of the FBI’s most-wanted stolen works of arts since it was taken from a Sicilian church in 1969įor more than 40 years, detectives and amateur sleuths alike have been trying to find Caravaggio’s famous altarpiece. Not for nothing has this topped the list of the FBI’s “Most-wanted stolen works of art” ever since it was snatched from a church in Sicily back in 1969. Some investigators, including one notable journalist, claim that they have come close to getting the Caravaggio back. ![]() And, what’s more, some believe that it may have been lost for good. The huge artwork – it measures six square metres – was painted by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio back in 1609. ![]()
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