Exquisite art intertwines beauty, genius, commerce, and the undercurrents of crime and espionage. This week, our focus unravels the mysterious threads that connect the art world and the underworld.
New York’s art world is transfixed by the court drama involving Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian billionaire who claims Sotheby's auction house cheated him out of millions. Among the Who’s Who of witnesses is Robert Wittman, the former FBI Art Crime Team boss who offered his top tips to spot crooked art advisers. We break down Wittman’s tactics and how the FBI team operates in the high-stakes art market.
Michael Honegger's book The Need to Know is a photographic essay exploring his father's work as a US Air Force Special Agent who ran spies in East Germany. It’s one of many inspiring works of art charged with secrets, spies, and surveillance. Here are some of the most creative and curious of the zeitgeist.
What did George Orwell and the CIA have in common? Perhaps more than the great socialist writer would have cared to admit. The groundbreaking visual artist Daniel Arsham brings us inside the CIA-sponsored production of Animal Farm (1954) where much more than artistic work lurks behind these seemingly innocuous film cels. Join podcast host Alice Loxton in A History of the World in Spy Objects.
Did Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code actually stumble onto one of the art world’s best-kept secrets? Researchers claim codes and symbols are hidden in Caravaggio’s The Supper at Emmaus and embedded in Leonardo Da Vinci paintings - and they are not the only artworks hiding secrets. Advances in technology and careful examination are uncovering a previously hidden art legacy.
When Edvard Munch’s The Scream was stolen in an art heist at Norway’s National Gallery, the government received a $1m ransom demand. But how could they tell if it was genuine? They called in Scotland Yard’s Charles Hill to track down the culprits. Posing as a buyer for the Getty Museum, Charles explained how he masterfully lured the audacious thieves out of the shadows.
Art theft doesn’t conjure up images of shoot-outs, explosions, and car chases but excitement comes in many forms. FBI art detectives might track down masterpieces stolen by Nazis, stop terrorists from selling ‘blood antiquities' looted from Iraqi and Syrian museums, or solve cases involving wine fraud. Here are the FBI’s Top 10 unsolved art crimes and the thrilling tales behind the scenes.
At SPY HQ you’ll explore hidden worlds, break codes, run surveillance and spot liars - while a system developed with MI6 experts reveals your personal spy role and profile.
