Episode 86 – How Much Is That Degas in the Window? The One with the Spurious Tale.
The Two Humans are joined by comedian, actor, and art lover Chris Hogan as they discuss sticky fingers in art museums and why it’s so hard to recover stolen artworks.
Episode 86 – How Much Is That Degas in the Window? The One with the Spurious Tale.
An Intro to Anthro with 2 Humans
Human Number One, John McCray, and Human Number Two, John Lehr, re-assess what it means to be human.
Website: http://www.intro2anthro.podbean.com [http://www.intro2anthro.podbean.com]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093893313542 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093893313542]
IG: @introtoanthrowith2humans
Patreon: https://patreon.com/AnIntrotoAnthrowithTwoHumans [https://patreon.com/AnIntrotoAnthrowithTwoHumans]
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@introtoanthrowith2humans [https://www.youtube.com/@introtoanthrowith2humans]
Merch: www.cafepress.com/shop/TheCaveShoppe/products?designId=13619501 [http://www.cafepress.com/shop/TheCaveShoppe/products?designId=13619501]
Resources:
Aikman, Ian and Rachel Hagen
2025 Everything We Know about the Louvre Jewelry Heist. BBC, October 20, 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7nrlkg0zxo.
Alford, Kenneth D.
2000 Nazi Plunder: Great Treasure Stories of World War II. Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA.
Artbusiness.com
2026 Art Provenance: What It Is and How to Verify It. Artbusiness.com (website), www.artbusiness.com/provwarn.html (accessed March 22, 2026).
Barelli, John and Zachary Schisgal
2019 Stealing the Show: A History of Art and Crime in Six Thefts. Lyons Press, Guilford, CT.
Borodkin, Lisa J.
1995 The Economics of Antiquities Looting and a Proposed Legal Alternative. Columbia Law Review, Mar., 1995, Vol. 95, No. 2 (Mar., 1995), pp. 377-417.
Brower II, Charles H.
2005 Republic of Austria v. Altmann. The American Journal of International Law, Jan., 2005, Vol. 99, No. 1 (Jan., 2005), pp. 236-242.
Charney, Noah
2018 The Museum of Lost Art. Phaedon Press Limited, London, UK.
2024 The Thefts of the Mona Lisa: The Complete Story of the World’s Most Famous Artwork. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD.
Collins, Donald E. and Herbert P. Rothfeder
1983 The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg and the Looting of Jewish and Masonic Libraries during World War II. The Journal of Library History (1974-1987), Winter, 1983, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter, 1983), pp. 21-36.
Davies, Caroline
2025 Two men jailed over theft of £4.75m gold toilet from Blenheim Palace. The Guardian, June 13, 2025, www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/13/two-men-jailed-over-theft-of-gold-toilet-from-blenheim-palace.
DeMott, Deborah A.
2012 Artful Good Faith: An Essay on Law, Custom, and Intermediaries in Art Markets. Duke Law Journal, December 2012, Vol. 62, No. 3, Special Symposium Issue Custom and Law (December 2012), pp. 607-643.
Evans, Laura
2024 The Atlas of Art Crime: Thefts, Vandalism, and Forgeries. Prestel, Munich, Germany.
Evans, Richard J.
2011 Art in the Time of War. The National Interest, May/June 2011, No. 113 (May/June 2011), pp. 16-26.
Gaudenzi, Bianca and Astrid Swenson
2017 Looted Art and Restitution in the Twentieth Century—Towards a Global Perspective. Journal of Contemporary History, July 2017, Vol. 52, No. 3 (July 2017), pp. 491-518.
Gerstenblith, Patty
2008 Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law (Second Edition). Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC.
Gerstenblith, Patty and Lucille Roussin
2007 International Cultural Property. The International Lawyer, SUMMER 2007, Vol. 41, No. 2, International Legal Developments in Review: 2006 (SUMMER 2007), pp. 613-628.
Givens, Seth A.
2014 Liberating the Germans: The US Army and Looting in Germany during the Second World War. War in History, January 2014, Vol. 21, No. 1 (January 2014), pp. 33-54.
Hendricks, Ashley Domingo
2022 Our Obsession with Art Heists. JSTOR Daily, August 19, 2022, daily.jstor.org/our-obsession-with-art-heists/.
Henley, Jon
2025 Prosecutor has ‘small hope’ of recovering Louvre jewels thanks to gear left by thieves. The Guardian, October 24, 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/ 2025/oct/24/louvre-jewels-recovery-dna-fingerprints.
2025 Four More People Arrested in Connection with Louvre Heist. The Guardian, November 25, 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/25/more-people-arrested-louvre-heist.
Houpt, Simon
2006 Museum of the Missing: A History of Art Theft. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, NY.
Interpol
2025 Louvre Museum theft: Stolen jewels added to INTERPOL's Stolen Works of Art database. Interpol (website), October 21, 2025, www.interpol.int/en/ News-and-Events/News/2025/Louvre-Museum-theft-Stolen-jewels-added-to-INTERPOL-s-Stolen-Works-of-Art-database.
2026 Our Analysis Reports. Interpol (website), www.interpol.int/How-we-work/Criminal-intelligence-analysis/Our-analysis-reports, accessed May, 4, 2026.
Jenkins, Tiffany
2018 From Objects of Enlightenment to Objects of Apology: Why You Can’t Make Amends for the Past by Plundering the Present. Dethroning Historical Reputations: Universities, Museums, and the Commemoration of Benefactors (ed. Jill Pellew and Lawrence Goldman), University of London Press, London, UK.
Jones, Jonathan
2016 Dashing rogues? No, art thieves are boring goons. The Guardian, April 7, 2016, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/ jonathanjonesblog /2016/ apr/07/art-theft-market-follows-the-money-edvard-munch-stolen-picture.
Kakar, Arun
2026 The global art market rebounded to $59.6 billion in 2025, Art Basel and UBS Report finds. Artsy, March 11, 2026, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-global-art-market-rebounded-596-billion-2025-art-basel-ubs-report-finds.
King, Thomas F.
2008 Cultural Resource Laws & Practice (Third Edition). Altamira Press, Lanham, MD.
Kuta, Sarah
2024 That Viral Banana Duct-Taped to a Wall? It Just Sold for $6.2 Million. Smithsonian Magazine, November 21, 2024, www.smithsonianmag.com/ smart-news/that-viral-banana-duct-taped-to-a-wall-it-just-sold-for-6-2-million-180985523/.
Leath, Mason
2025 Solid gold toilet named 'America' sells at auction for $12M. ABC News, November 19, 2025, abcnews.com/US/solid-gold-toilet-named-america-sells-auction-12m/story?id=127669474.
Merryman, John Henry
1985 Thinking about the Elgin Marbles. Michigan Law Review, Vol. 83, No. 8 (Aug., 1985), pp. 1980-1923.
Miles, Margaret M.
2008 Art as Plunder: The Ancient Origins of Debate about Cultural Property. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
National Gallery of Canada
2026 Provenance. National Gallery of Canada (website), www.gallery.ca/research/provenance (accessed March 22, 2026).
New York Times
1976 Picasso Theft Valued at $4.5 Million. The New York Times, February 2, 1976, https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/02/archives/picasso-theft-valued-at-45-million.html.
O’Connor, Anne-Marie
2012 The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. Vintage Books, New York, NY.
Oltermann, Philip
2013 The mysterious Munich recluse who hoarded €1bn of Nazis' stolen art. The Guardian, November 4, 2013, www.theguardian.com/world/2013/ nov/04/ nazi-art-hoard-munich-recluse-cornelius-gurlitt.
Paumgarten, Nick
2006 The $40-Million Elbow. The New Yorker, October 16, 2006, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/23/the-40-million-elbow.
Petropoulos, Jonathan
2021 Goring’s Man in Paris. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Restrepo, Manuela Lopez
2025 UK court finds men who stole $6 million gold toilet guilty. NPR, March 20, 2025, www.npr.org/2025/03/20/g-s1-54909/golden-toilet-stolen-cattelan-6-million-convicted.
Reyhan, Patricia Youngblood
2001 A Chaotic Palette: Conflict of Laws in Litigation between Original Owners and Good-Faith Purchasers of Stolen Art. Duke Law Journal, Feb., 2001, Vol. 50, No. 4 (Feb., 2001), pp. 955-1043.
Roodt, Christa
2013 Restitution of Art and Cultural Objects and Its Limits. The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, November 2013, Vol. 46, No. 3 (November 2013), pp. 286-307.
Schapiro, Rich and Ani Ucar
2026 A $58,000 sofa? Inside the mind-boggling crime spree of L.A.'s 'most tasteful' burglar. NBC News, April 3, 2026, www.nbcnews.com/ investigations/58000-sofa-mind-boggling-crime-spree-ls-tasteful-burglar-rcna254532.
Shoumatoff, Alex
2014 The Devil and the Art Dealer. Vanity Fair, March 19, 2014, www.vanityfair.com/news/2014/04/degenerate-art-cornelius-gurlitt-munich-apartment.
Spencer, Ronald D. and Gary D. Sesser
2013 Provenance: Important, Yes, But Often Incomplete and Often Enough, Wrong. Artnet, June 26, 2013, news.artnet.com/market/the-importance-of-provenance-in-determining-authenticity-29953.
UNESCO
2023 The illicit trafficking of cultural goods shall be recognized as a security issue. UNESCO (website), November 23, 2023, www.unesco.org/en/articles/ illicit-trafficking-cultural-goods-shall-be-recognized-security-issue.
Willingham, Leah
2026 Inside the world’s largest art heist when over $500M of paintings were stolen from a Boston museum. APNnews.com. April 26, 2026, apnews.com/article/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art-heist-boston-512da0322ce5c93c1bbafc7a5e228b2c.