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Lost Masterpieces
Stolen Titian Found at Bus Stop Sells for $22 million
MA$TERPIECEThe work's dramatic history includes being looted by Napoleon.
The Gold Toilet Stolen From Churchill’s Childhood Palace
LUXURY LOOPrankster artist Maurizio Cattelan installed his famous solid-gold potty in a British palace—and then it vanished. Performance art ... or brazen heist?
The Crystal Palace Stunned NYC—Until It Burned Down
Lost MasterpiecesIt was loosely based on the London structure of the same name, and was built, stunningly, of cast-iron and glass. But disaster would rob NYC of a building that never became iconic.
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His Magnum Opus Was an Arabic Sex Guide. His Wife Burned It.
Lost MasterpiecesSir Richard Francis Burton’s wife Isabel feared ‘The Scented Garden’ would not be read in the ‘spirit of science,’ but ‘for filth's sake.’ Her fiery solution brought more scandal.
She Hunted a Stolen Picasso—and Got Hoaxed
Lost MasterpiecesHow a Romanian writer hot on the trail of seven stolen paintings found herself at the center of an elaborate prank.
The Burning of Lord Byron’s Salacious Memoirs
Lost MasterpiecesWere the revelations in Lord Byron's memoirs so scandalous that his closest friends decided to burn them, rather than risk the damage to his—and his loved ones—reputations?
When Picasso and Orwell Went After Tyrants and Risked It All
Profiles in CourageThe two geniuses exposed the real face of totalitarianism. Both did so by producing masterpieces — and paid a price. We need to be reminded why.
The Perfect Art Heist For a New Millennium
Lost MasterpiecesAs the world celebrated the dawn of a new millennium in 2000, a thief broke into Oxford's Ashmolean Museum and stole a Cézanne painting. It, and the thief, have never been found.
The Life and Death of a Manhattan Mega-Mansion
Living In StyleBefore Gracie Mansion, Charles Schwab's massive, 50,000 square feet Riverside Drive abode was set to become the official residence of New York City's mayors.
The Necklace That Cost Marie Antoinette Her Head
Lost MasterpiecesThe diamond necklace had 647 diamonds, and after it went missing Marie Antoinette was accused of buying but not paying for it. And this French royal scandal only got juicier.
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