A Frans Hals painting is the most stolen painting in history

A painting by the Dutch painter Frans Hals (Antwerp, 1580 - Haarlem, 1666) holds the record for the most stolen painting in history: in the early hours of Wednesday, August 26, its third theft was in fact carried out.

Depicting two boys laughing with a beer mug and dating between 1626 and 1627, the work was stolen from the Hofje van Aerden Museum in Leerdam at around 3:30 a.m. The alarm went off, but by the time law enforcement officials arrived at the museum premises, the thieves had already fled. According to Dutch police, the thieves got in by forcing a door at the back of the museum. And they probably took advantage of the fact that the museum is currently closed to the public for health reasons. Investigators are currently sifting through the institution’s surveillance circuit cameras, consulting with experts (forensic specialists, investigators, and art theft experts) to figure out how the thieves succeeded in their operation and what might have happened to the painting, and talking to witnesses.

The Hals painting has an estimated value of $17 million, according to the Guardian, which would make it the Flemish painter’s most expensive work (his record is a $14 million sale at auction in 2008 for a portrait of him). It is indeed a very valuable work: a genre scene, exemplary of his painting, and which some scholars believe may belong to a series on the five senses (in this case it would be an allegory of sight).

Its first theft had occurred in 1988 in the same museum and it took a full three years to find it; the second time was in 2011 and it was found after six months. Just in 2011, after the second theft, the Leerdam museum had tightened security measures around Hals’ canvas and other key paintings in its collection. But, apparently, that was not enough.

Image: Frans Hals, Boys with Beer Mug (c. 1626-1627; oil on canvas, 68 x 56.5 cm; Leerdam, Hofje van Aerden Museum)

A Frans Hals painting is the most stolen painting in history

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