Dulwich Picture Gallery has a problem. People keep nicking its Rembrandts.
Someone broke into the south London gallery late on Wednesday evening, and removed two paintings. The theft was detected, the pictures recovered, although the culprit got away. In a statement the gallery said:
Last night intruders attempted to remove two paintings from Dulwich Picture Gallery's 'Rembrandt's Light' exhibition.
Thanks to the immediate intervention of security staff and the swift response of the Metropolitan Police, the paintings were secured at the scene.
The gallery is currently closed, and will remain so until further notice — so police can conduct a full investigation. If you've booked ahead, you can get a full refund.
As art lovers will know, Rembrandts are too frequently at the centre of heists. Arguably, the most famous missing picture in the world is by the Dutch Golden Age painter.
Dulwich Picture Gallery also has its own bad memories concerning Rembrandts going astray. The gallery is home to the world's most stolen picture, Rembrandt's small portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III. The picture has been pinched a whopping four times, although not since the 1980s.
At least this time, neither of the two stolen pictures was of Jacob de Gheyn III. The portrait wasn't featured in the gallery's current exhibition, and per the gallery's statement, is not one of the works in question.
We'd like to remind readers that if you'd like to take one of Rembrandt's pictures home with you, that's totally reasonable. So long as it's in the form of a postcard.
Read our review of Rembrandt's Light.
