Click to play videoLondon: Hollywood films can lend glamour to art crimes, but just how real is our perception of the suave, charming, art thief - stealing for pleasure and not gain?
Actor Pierce Brosnan adds a touch of class and glamour to fine art crime in The Thomas Crown Affair.
“I think it makes good movies but the reality of it is much grubbier and much less glamorous,” said Annabel Fell-Clark from AXA Art Insurance.
But however grubby, at least two Picasso paintings are still missing, stolen earlier this week from his granddaughter's Paris flat.
Though they are estimated to be worth around $60 million, the thief will never see that kind of money since the second a painting is stolen, it devalues and no self-respecting art dealer would touch it.
But Picassos certainly seem to be among the most popular to steal. With 550 either stolen or reported missing since records began in the mid 1970s, 441 are yet to be recovered.
And even if the thief can't swap the painting for cash, it can be traded in the underworld for other stolen contraband, be it drugs or arms or even used to extort money from the victim.
On a lighter note, it's also rather unlikely that many of the criminals involved in stealing artwork are as charming as Pierce Brosnan.
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