Mastering the Art of Solving Crime

Robert Wittman: I was the founder of the FBI Art Crime Team in 2005 and served as a senior investigator there for 20 years. Before that, art crimes weren’t considered a specialty. Now I have my own business specializing in art recovery and security.

RW: I worked on cases involving fraud, forgeries and fakes, and theft. These included art crimes committed against museums, colleges and universities, and also private individuals. The FBI categorizes stolen art as not only the theft of paintings, prints, and sculptures, but also things like collectibles. The art industry itself generates $200 billion each year worldwide. I recovered more than $300 million of stolen art and cultural property during my career at the FBI.

RW: Well, I was an undercover agent, so for 12 years I was always somewhere in the world working undercover. I traveled to 20 different countries to solve cases for the FBI. I was frequently assigned to multiple cases taking place in different countries—all at the same time.

RW: One of my best recoveries was finding a $35 million painting by Rembrandt van Rijn that had been stolen from the Swedish national museum in Stockholm. We did an undercover operation in Copenhagen, Denmark, and that’s how we were able to recover that painting.

RW: Yes, I studied fine art, diamonds, jewelry, and gemstones.

RW: It’s good for young people who are interested in art to know that there are many art-related careers they can get involved with. There are jobs in security, investigation, provenance review (examining documents that prove the history and authenticity of a piece of art), and research.