The search for Rembrandt paintings

UNDATED -- A former federal agent has turned into an art detective. Now his entire job is to find the 13 paintings stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum nearly 20 years ago.

Anthony Amore is framing his case, and claims the paintings could be recovered soon.

“They took the entire thing. Al Monday told me frame made it a little cumbersome and heavy,” Amore explained.

Thieves stole this particular Rembrandt right out of the Worcester Art Museum in 1972.

Four weeks later it was recovered, not in a billionaire's private art gallery, but at a dump.

“To look at contrast between beauty and the profane…that famous contrast, nothing spells it out better than St. Bartholomew winding up in a polluted pig farm,” said Amore.

Amore dispels the mystique of art thieves in his new book “Stealing Rembrandts.” As the head of security at the Isabella Gardner Museum since 2005, his focus has been finding the 13 stolen priceless pieces; including 3 Rembrandts.

“I know that we are close. I know we are on right path. I firmly believe we'll recover them. I think you'll be in Boston reporting that news,” Amore said.

One top suspect in the rumor mill is James “Whitey” Bulger.

But for Amore, he says the reputed mob boss does not fit the profile.

“People who worked for him, or with him, have admitted to dozens of murders and other real heinous crimes. To think they wouldn’t say ‘by the way he had some stolen paintings’ is beyond me,” Amore explained.

Amore says those who steal masterpieces are shortsighted common criminals.

“They make off with a painting and soon find they have a painting worth tens of millions of dollars that all they can do is hide,” he said.

Which is why he believes it is only a matter of time before the 13 priceless items will make their return to Boston.

“I have every confidence that we will get our art back and it will be displayed again in Ms. Gardner’s museum,” Amore assured.

One thing learned from Anthony Amore’s book is that stolen art is almost always recovered because unlike money which is easy to launder, stealing masterpieces, according to Amore, is a fool’s errand.

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