Whether its the discovery of $1.6 billion in Nazi-looted art or the news that Syrian rebels are looting UNESCO archaeological sites to buy arms; art crime commands headlines. Erin Thompson; Americas only professor of art crime; explores the dark history of looting; smuggling; and forgery that lies at the heart of many private art collections and many of the worlds most renowned museums. Enlivened by fascinating personalities and scandalous events; Possession shows how collecting antiquities has been a way of creating identity; informed by a desire to annex the past while providing an illicit thrill along the way. Thompsons accounts of historys most infamous collectorsmdash;from the Roman Emperor Tiberius; who stole a life-sized nude Greek statue for his bedroom; to Queen Christina of Sweden; who habitually pilfered small antiquities from her fellow aristocrats; to Sir William Hamilton; who forced his mistress to enact poses from his collection of Greek vasesmdash;are as mesmerizing as they are revealing.
#987362 in eBooks 2016-04-25 2016-04-25File Name: B01ERPWKJ2
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