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Arthur Brand (investigator)

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Arthur Brand (born 1968 or 1969)[1] is a Dutch art crime investigator[2] who has recovered over 200 works of art.[3] His vocation is being an art historian and art consultant.[4][5] It is for the love of art that he takes on lost art recovery as a personal interest.[6]

Brand's interest in stolen art recovery began when he was an exchange student in southern Spain. Together with some Romani people he met there, he went on a treasure hunt that resulted in the discovery of three silver Roman coins. He was inspired by that journey to begin conducting detective work on his own. He conducted research through newspapers to learn about stolen works of art.[5]

Amongst other works, he tracked down a 1600-year-old missing mosaic, and a Byzantine-era depiction of St. Mark that was stolen four decades previously.[7] He also helped recover Salvador Dalí’s "Adolescence", during which CBS quoted that "He's described as the Indiana Jones of the art world".[8] Other recovered works include Tamara de Lempicka's The Musician.[9] Brand was involved in the pursuit of several paintings that were stolen from the Dutch city of Hoorn.[2] He retrieved Oscar Wilde's ring, returned to Oxford University's Magdalen College, Picasso's Buste de Femme and Van Gogh's The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in September 2023.[5][10] Six paintings stolen from the town hall of Medemblik in September 2023 were delivered anonymously to Brand's door in October 2023.[11]

He has written two books[12] about his recoveries (Hitler's Horses and Het verboden Judas-evangelie en de schat van Carchemish) and there is a Dutch documentary series about his recoveries: De Kunstdetective.[13] A third book, De kunstdetective has been announced for publication by Boekerij in June 2024.[14]

Selected publications

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  • Brand, Arthur (2019). De paarden van Hitler: hoe de kunstdetective zijn sensationeelste ontdekking deed en wereldnieuws werd. Amsterdam: Boekerij. ISBN 9789022583128.
  • English edition, translated by Jane Hedley-Prôle: Brand, Arthur (2020). Hitler's horses: the incredible true story of the detective who infiltrated the Nazi underworld. London: Ebury Press. ISBN 978-1529106107.
  • Brand, Arthur (2006). Het verboden Judas-evangelie en de schat van Carchemish [The Forbidden Gospel of Judas and the Treasure of Carchemish] (in Dutch). Soesterberg: Aspekt. ISBN 9789059112445.

References

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  1. ^ Boztas, Senay (25 September 2023). "Arthur Brand: 'I never give up informants - they will shoot you dead'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b Siegal, Nina (15 December 2015). "Stolen Dutch Art Shows Up in Ukraine, but Getting It Back Isn't Easy". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-19. The museum hired Arthur Brand, a Dutch art crime investigator, to go to Ukraine to negotiate with the militia, the Battalion of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.
  3. ^ "Dutch paintings retrieved from the black market after more than a decade". CNN Style. 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  4. ^ "The 'Indiana Jones of the Art World' Has Found a $28 Million Picasso Stolen From a Saudi Prince's Yacht Two Decades Ago". Artnet News. 2019-03-26. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  5. ^ a b c Jones, Ralph. "Meet the world's greatest art detective". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  6. ^ "Confessions of an art detective: Arthur Brand". The Gentleman's Journal. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  7. ^ "Missing 1,600-year-old mosaic returned after four decades". CNN Style. 2018-11-19. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  8. ^ "Investigator "100 percent sure" stolen art from legendary heist is in Ireland". CBS News. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2018. He's described as the Indiana Jones of the art world
  9. ^ "How an art detective recovered two stolen multi-million pound paintings". The Independent. 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  10. ^ "'Handed over in an Ikea bag': art detective recovers Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum". The Art Newspaper. 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
  11. ^ "Dutch art sleuth recovers a further six stolen paintings". The Guardian. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  12. ^ "Boeken". Arthur Brand (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  13. ^ "De Kunstdetective". MAX Vandaag (in Dutch). Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  14. ^ "De kunstdetective". Boekerij (in Dutch). 28 June 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
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