For a time there was uncertainty as to whether the Mona Lisa in the Louvre was the actual painting by Leonardo da Vinci. In 2020 thieves walked away from the Singer Laren museum in the Netherlands with a priceless painting by Vincent van Gogh; Rembrandt’s 1632 piece, Jacob de Gheyn III, was called the Takeaway Rembrandt by Guinness World Records after being stolen multiple times.

It’s a world that Sara Angel inhabits ― and one she will explore in a talk at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art next week. Stealing the Show: Crime in the Contemporary Art World, will discuss the motivations of “numerous cultural felonies” and consider why some activities are criminalised while “others are deemed unethical but legal”.

Although unaware of any such cases in Bermuda, she has encountered museum thefts, vandalism, looting, smuggling, copyright infringements, fraud, and forgeries of art across the Caribbean, the United States, Canada and Europe.

Amid today’s high-tech security and surveillance equipment it might seem a bit far-fetched but the reality is it does take place, said Dr Angel, an adjunct professor at York University in Toronto, Canada, where she teaches courses on Nazi-era art restitution and art crime.

“Art crime permeates all countries around the world. It's there because there are many different forms of art crime ― from vandalism to copyright infringement to heists to forgery.”

It persists because it is the “world’s largest unregulated industry outside of illicit drug trafficking”, she added. Even when dealing with a trusted name, consumers should heed the phrase “buyer beware” ― a lesson made clear by the Knoedler Gallery scandal.

Founded in 1846, the art dealership was one of New York’s oldest commercial galleries. It closed in 2011 amid multiple fraud lawsuits, which later revealed that it had sold nearly 40 faked paintings for millions of dollars.

“It was one of the oldest, most established art galleries in New York, and essentially a forgery ring was being run out of there,” Dr Angel said.

The crime fell squarely within her area of expertise; her doctoral dissertation focused on the restitution of Nazi-looted art from Montreal dealer Max Stern.

“When the Nazis stole paintings from the Jews during the Second World War, that was a form of art crime. There are many, many different forms of art, crime.

“Stealing paintings is one, forgery is another. One field of art crime is government theft of art from citizens because of their religion ― which was the case during the Second World War in Nazi Germany.

“So I did a PhD on that subject and brought my interest from that subject into art crime in other fields.”

That art crimes were so prevalent came as no surprise to Dr Angel, who explained that such crimes have been occurring “truly since antiquity”.

“It's just a part of the world like anything else. Another component of art crime is that the art market is an unregulated market. There isn't any governing body that says that a gallery has to prove that it's selling a particular work.

“So, since it's an unregulated market, there are many different ways for crime to enter it.”

Technology is a double-edged sword, simultaneously aiding and hindering criminals.

“AI has made forgery easier, but at the same time, the internet has made it harder for people to hide art crime,” Dr Angel said.

“If a painting was stolen from somebody's house and then put on the market, it's very, very hard for a thief to be able to [sell it] because if you put something on the internet it's very easy to trace.”

Items put on the black market are harder to track as there is no record of sale however in all instances, the chances of recovery are only “possible”.

“It's very particular to a certain case. It's possible. It's not likely.”

There are, however, things that artists and art collectors can do to keep pieces safe.

“In terms of having a work protected from being stolen from a home, that's just security. But then, if a work has been in an exhibition, and it's in an exhibition catalogue, or it's documented in a book, then [reselling it] becomes much harder because people will know this was a work that was shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

Her lecture next week is mainly to educate people and help them understand that art crime is not new, it’s been around as long as art has existed.

“Art crime is a part of the art world in many different ways. Art has been used as a political pawn. There's been copyright infringement on art, people have vandalised art to make a political statement, people have stolen art because they love works of art. It really gives insight into who we are as humans,” Dr Angel said.

• Join Sara Angel on Thursday, from 5.30pm to 7pm at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art. Admission is free for members; $20 for non-members. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit:masterworksbermuda.org/sara-angel/