Art theft most famous cases in history

Art theft is an ancient and complicated crime. When you look at the some of the most famous cases of art thefts in history, you see thoroughly planned operations that involve art dealers, art fakers, mobsters, ransoms, and millions of dollars. Here you can read about some of the most famous cases of art theft in the history.

The First Theft:

The first documented case of art theft was in 1473, when two panels of altarpiece of the Last Judgment by the Dutch painter Hans Memling were stolen. While the triptych was being transported by ship from the Netherlands to Florence, the ship was attacked by pirates who took it to the Gdansk cathedral in Poland. Nowadays, the piece is shown at the National Museum in Gdansk where it was recently moved from the Basilica of the Assumption.

The Most Famous Theft:

The most famous story of art theft involves one of the most famous paintings in the world and one of the most famous artists in history as a suspect. In the night of August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen out of the Louver. Soon after, Pablo Picasso was arrested and questioned by the police, but was released quickly.

It took about two years until the mystery was solved by the Parisian police. It turned out that the 30Ч21 inch painting was taken by one of the museum employees by the name of Vincenzo Peruggia, who simply carried it hidden under his coat. Nevertheless, Peruggia did not work alone. The crime was carefully conducted by a notorious con man, Eduardo de Valfierno, who was sent by an art faker who intended to make copies and sell them as if they were the original painting.

While Yves Chaudron, the art faker, was busy creating copies for the famous masterpiece, Mona Lisa was still hidden at Peruggias apartment. After two years in which Peruggia did not hear from Chaudron, he tried to make the best out of his stolen good. Eventually, Peruggia was caught by the police while trying to sell the painting to an art dealer from Florence, Italy. The Mona Lisa was returned to the Louver in 1913.

The Biggest Theft in the USA:

The biggest art theft in United States took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. On the night of March 18, 1990, a group of thieves wearing police uniforms broke into the museum and took thirteen paintings whose collective value was estimated at around 300 million dollars. The thieves took two paintings and one print by Rembrandt, and works of Vermeer, Manet, Degas, Govaert Flinck, as well as a French and a Chinese artifact.

As of yet, none of the paintings have been found and the case is still unsolved. According to recent rumors, the FBI are investigating the possibility that the Boston Mob along with French art dealers are connected to the crime.

The Scream:

The painting by Edvard Munchs, The Scream, is probably the most sought after painting by art thieves in history. It has been stolen twice and was only recently recovered. In 1994, during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, The Scream was stolen from an Oslo gallery by two thieves who broke through an open window, set off the alarm and left a note saying: thanks for the poor security.

Three months later, the holders of the painting approached the Norwegian Government with an offer: 1 million dollars ransom for Edvard Munchs The Scream. The Government turned down the offer, but the Norwegian police collaborated with the British Police and the Getty Museum to organize a sting operation that brought back the painting to where it belongs.

Ten years later, The Scream was stolen again from the Munch Museum. This time, the robbers used a gun and took another of Munchs painting with them. While Museum officials waiting for the thieves to request ransom money, rumors claimed that both paintings were burned to conceal evidence. Eventually, the Norwegian police discovered the two paintings on August 31, 2006 but the facts on how they were recovered are not known yet.

Spanish grammar lesson on the present progressive tense

The Present Progressive Tense

The progressive tense is used to describe actions that are in progress at a specific moment in time (the present). In English, it is the auxiliary verb “to be” and the present participle. In layperson terms, the “present participle” means verbs with “ing” attached to the end of the verb.

The present tense is used much more frequently in English than it is used in Spanish. As in Spanish, we use it to talk about actions that are in progress “now” or “right now.” But in English, we also use the present progressive tense to describe habitual actions or to speak in general. For example:

I am living in the suburbs.

I am working in the post office.

I am taking Spanish lessons.

In Spanish, the present tense is used to emphasize that an action is taking place now. But many Spanish grammar books do not indicate that there is another use for the present progressive tense. And that the present progressive tense can be used to stress that an action is continuous.

I learned this one from trial and error. As embarrassing as it is to admit, a five year old little girl corrected my Spanish grammar. That’s how I found out.

The first time it happened it happened with an adult. I was trying to tell an adult that I am learning Spanish. Since the Spanish grammar books taught me that the Spanish present progressive tense is only used to describe actions that are in progress “right now,” I did not use the present progressive tense to say that “I am learning Spanish.” Because I was not learning Spanish at that specific moment. At that very moment, I was trying to talk to her in Spanish. So I said “Aprendo espaсol.” She politely corrected me and said “se dice estoy aprendiendo espaсol”.

At the time, I thought that maybe she was wrong and that my textbook was right. So I tried telling my next door neighboor’s five year old that “Yo aprendo espaсol” who proudly corrected my Spanish. She told me: you’re supposed to say ‘“yo estoy aprendiendo espaсol.”

Forming the Present Progressive Tense

In Spanish, we form the present progressive tense by conjugating the verb “estar” with the present participle. You form regular “ar” present participles by dropping the “ar” and adding “ando.” And you form regular “er” present participles by dropping the “er” and adding “iendo”

Let’s try it.

My grandmother is eating pork chops.

Mi abuelita estб comiendo chuletas de cerdo.

The uncle is working.

El tнo estб trabajando.

The father-in-law is dancing.

El suegro estб bailando.

The stepmother is cooking the lobster.

La madrastra estб cocinando la langosta.

The grandson is doing nothing.

El nieto no estб haciendo nada.

You are washing the windows.

Tъ estбs limpiando las ventanas.

Now let’s try a few on your own. The answers appear at the bottom.

The nephew is selling cars.

The daughter-in-law is writing a letter.

The sister-in-law is receiving a lot of gifts.

The grandchildren are playing.

The cousin is buying a tie.

Answers:

El sobrino estб vendiendo carros.

La nuera estб escribiendo una carta.

La cuсada estб recibiendo muchos regalos.

Los nietos estбn jugando.

El primo estб comprando una corbata.

Press release why seo experts should not use press releases

Rumor has it that press releases are the next big thing in the SEO business, and many companies are spending top dollars trying to write the next big press release announcing the next big balloon breaking technology. But is this really the next big thing?

By definition, a Press Release is a kind of news item released by the company on whom the news is being reported. As such, you will have to compete with all the other press releases and hope that your will get picked up.

Why Will Your Press Release Be Trashed?

1) Unless you are writing a press release about Microsoft, Adobe, Sony or one of the other mega-companies, or at least about a company that is relatively well known, forget about it. Journalists and news editors receive thousands of press releases a day and there is no way that they will waste more than a quick glance. So why should you pay a company seven to eight hundred dollars for them sending your press release to thousands of editors and journalists when they are going to junk it anyway?

2) Unless you are announcing a truly revolutionary product or technology (which I assume you are not since you are only interested in using the professionally paid and written press release to boost your search engine rankings), whatever you make up or announce such as some new free deal or new portal offering something unique, your chances of being picked up are very slim. Yes, the PR companies will tell you that they have vast experience in writing Press Releases that will make yours stand out and get picked up but this is not accurate. The only way your PR is going to get picked up is if it truly is something out of the ordinary or something that no one has ever thought off.

3) Unless you plan to spend millions of dollars and then just by sheer volume your site will go ahead in the search engines, this is not a good option. Why? If you send a large number of press releases then these will be placed on the different PR companies websites main page. Since most of these home pages have a very high page rank, your site will get a boost. The question is whether this boost is worth the large amount of money you will put into the PR companies pocket. No it is not. Use that money to buy (though I do not recommend this) links from high-ranked websites and you will pay less and receive more benefit.

4) Any press release, even if it has been accepted, will remain on the different pages for just a short time, making the time and effort and even more so the amount of money you paid fruitless.

Conclusion:

A press release is useful if you wish to contact the press and maybe get some free publicity, but it is of no use if you wish to use it as a tool in order to advance your website in the search engines.