“Amateurish” thieves have made off with a display print of Queen Elizabeth II by Andy Warhol as a part of a botched gallery heist within the Netherlands.
The thieves blew open the gallery doorways, stealing two works from the long-lasting American pop artist, the gallery’s proprietor Mark Peet Visser stated.
One other two prints had been left badly broken on the street after the thieves found they would not match within the getaway automotive, he added.
The heist was captured on safety cameras, Mr Visser stated, describing the entire thing as “amateurish”.
The gallery proprietor stated “the bomb attack was so violent that my entire building was destroyed” and close by shops had been additionally broken.
Picture:
Thieves additionally seized a display print depicting Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. File pic: AP
“So they did that part of it well, too well actually,” he added.
“And then they ran to the car with the prints and it turns out that they won’t fit in the car.
“At that second the works are ripped out of the frames and also you additionally know that they’re broken past restore, as a result of it’s inconceivable to get them out undamaged.”
The thieves struck the MPV Gallery within the Dutch city of Oisterwijk early on Friday.
Mr Visser stated they had been trying to steal 4 works from a 1985 Warhol sequence known as Reigning Queens.
The sequence featured portraits of the then queens of the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Swaziland, which is now known as Eswatini.
The thieves obtained away with the portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and Margrethe II of Denmark, Mr Visser stated.
However the prints of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Ntombi Tfwala, who’s now often known as the queen mom of Eswatini, had been deserted.
Mr Visser has not put a price on the signed and numbered works, which had been on account of go on sale as a part of an artwork truthful later this month.
Forensic specialists have scoured the badly broken gallery and Dutch police are interesting for witnesses.
