Another famous painting was stolen.  A Van Gogh was cut from its frame and removed from the museum.

It seems that cutting the picture from it’s frame is the mode of operation for art thieves.  And, while I realize that cutting the picture from the frame is easier that trying to hide the picture with the frame, it also reduces the amount of the painting.

Mounting a painting on a frames requires at least a half inch of canvas all the way around.  This means that every time a painting is stolen, the painting is reduced.  So, if a paint is stolen enough times, there won’t be much left of it.  Eventually, the art thieves will only be stealing fragments of the original.

I suppose if a painting is famous enough, the museum can display the canvas fragment next to a replica of the original.  But, more importantly, the rare works need to be better protected than what they are.