'It played out like a B-grade movie' - Kiwi art-crime expert on our obsession with the Louvre heist
Ever since the audacious Parisian break-in, art historian Penelope Jackson's phone has been ringing off the hook.
While the theft of millions of dollars' worth of irreplaceable royal jewellery is a massive cultural loss for France, there's an "almost entertainment" aspect to the story that art historian Dr Penelope Jackson finds amusing.
In the space of just seven minutes, four thieves wielding power tools, and using a lift on a truck, broke into the world's most-visited museum and home to the Mona Lisa in broad daylight last Sunday, taking nine priceless pieces of jewellery in the heist, officials say. (Two items were later found near the museum.)
"You can get tote bags, t-shirts, you name it, it's all over the internet," Jackson tells RNZ's Nine to Noon about the heist's notoriety online in the aftermath.
Dr Penelope Jackson
Massey University
"I've ordered a t-shirt that says 'I'm heading to the Louvre, shall I get you something?'"
Jackson, who became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to art crime research and visual arts, describes the culprits' actions as "very audacious and brazen".
Although the tools they carried included a chainsaw - "a bit of an odd addition" - as the Louvre is undergoing renovations at the moment, people walking around dressed like tradies wouldn't have been unusual, she says.
The thieves had clearly "done their homework", Jackson says, and figured out that half an hour after opening on a Sunday morning was the best time to strike.
Why does the world so transfixed with art heists?
The Louvre's "quite aged" camera surveillance system, particularly in the part of the Apollo Gallery where the jewellery was displayed, was likely factored into their plan, Jackson says.
"They would have worked out how to be out of sight, for the most part, from the cameras… They were in an area where they knew that they could get away with what they did."
This emerald-and-diamond necklace was a wedding gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to his second wife Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, when they married in 1810.
Stephane de Sakutin
The thieves dropping one golden crown encrusted with thousands of diamonds is another "B-grade movie aspect" of the tale, she says.
"They did make mistakes, the actual robbery was flawed… also, they left behind 150 DNA samples, which led police to the two suspects arrested this week.
Because the stolen wares are jewellery, the thieves can't actually do anything with the pieces as they are, Jackson says, so it's likely the gold and gemstones will be broken down, and then sold for about 10 percent of their original value.
The fact that the priceless jewels will likely never be recovered is a big part of why the world remains transfixed on the crime 10 days later, she says.
"Because the hunt is still on, it keeps it in the public interest."
Many people come to take photos of the window where the thieves entered the Louvre and the broken display case they plundered.
AFP / Eric Broncard
Despite France's grief and outrage, it didn't take long for the memes to land, Jackson says.
On TikTok, there are countless clips of cats and dogs wearing the stolen jewels, Jackson says, and Hollywood star George Clooney (who played the part of Danny Ocean, an ex-con who establishes a heist) even joked he's "very proud" of the Louvre thieves at a film premiere last week.
The German machinery company Böcker, which apparently made the furniture lift used in the heist, are also "cashing in" on the crime, Jackson says, with a jokey Instagram ad about carrying your "treasures" when you're in a hurry posted on their social media just six days later.
With all of this online excitement, Jackson suspects the Louvre jewellery heist could well be "an art crime that just keeps on giving".
Five days after the Louvre theft, the German machinery company Böcker posted an ad featuring a photo of its ladder propped against the Louvre's façade.
Böcker
