Summary

Chapter Sixteen of The Art Thief focuses on Bernard Darties, an art crime investigator from the French art-crime unit, who is tracking a significant theft of a small ivory figurine from a museum in Brittany in 1996. Darties suspects that this crime, along with other small-museum heists across France, is connected to the work of a well-coordinated couple. Darties, like his Swiss counterpart Von der Mühll, believes that the couple responsible for the art thefts is highly educated and married. He is astonished by the thieves' prolific activity and sees parallels between art crimes and terrorism, drawing from his previous experience in anti-terrorism units. The couple's ability to execute their thefts in well-guarded and crowded museums baffles Darties, leaving him with few leads to follow.

The narrative then shifts to the significant theft of the portrait Madeleine de France by Corneille de Lyon...