The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession (Unabridged)
Price:- $16.99
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One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the worldâs most prolific art thief, StĂ©phane Breitwieser.
In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieserâs strange worldâunlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.
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 StĂ©phane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight yearsâin museums and cathedrals all over EuropeâBreitwieser, 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 Breitwieserâs 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 heartâs 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 addictâs need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriendâs pleas to stopâuntil one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.
This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
Cover images: (top) Bat by Albrecht DĂŒrer. Bridgeman Images; (bottom) The Sleeping Shepherd (detail) by François Boucher © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
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