Mondays, February 3 – February 24, 12 – 2pm
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn. Self-Portrait (detail), 1630. Gift 1956 Nationalmusei Vänner, National Museum, Stockholm
$220; members $198
(4 classes)
About the Class
Join one of the most famous art detectives in the world to hear tales from the trenches of his long career solving art crimes with the FBI.
Robert Wittman founded the FBI’s National Art Crime Team and served for 20 years as the agency’s investigative expert. He is responsible for recovering more than $300 million in stolen art and cultural property around the world over his career. This course will draw on those cases—which have taken him from Spain to extract $50 million worth of Goya and Brueghel paintings from a Spanish mobster to France to save a priceless Rodin. He has rescued Rembrandts, Renoirs, and even the golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. He will also share his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the criminals behind the century’s largest unsolved art crime, the $500 million theft from the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston.
A former Barnes student, Wittman will also discuss fakes and forgeries and the criminals behind them, the importance of cultural artifacts and strategies for protecting these treasures, and the investigative techniques used to find and recover stolen works of art.
The class is online-only. More about online classes.
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Barnes classes will:
- Sharpen your observational and critical thinking skills.
- Improve your ability to communicate about art.
- Deepen your appreciation for cultures and histories outside your own.
Instructor
Robert Wittman
An art crimes expert, Wittman served as an FBI special agent for 20 years and founded the agency’s National Art Crime Team. He is responsible for recovering more than $300 million in lost and stolen artwork and cultural property over his career. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling memoir Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures (2011) and The Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich (2017).
Recent Barnes Class Testimonials
“Naina Saligram is the professor everyone hopes to have. She is knowledgeable and open to listening to her students.” The Classical Tradition in Modern Art with Naina Saligram
“Joe Tokumasu Field was a wonderful instructor—very patient, caring, and skilled at interacting with students’ questions and comments.” The Japanese American Century with Joseph Tokumasu Field
“Kaelin got us involved in the conversation in a way that made it engaging and fun. I learned so much and didn’t feel like I was just being lectured at the whole time. The class was well paced and covered the basics without oversimplification.” The Language of Painting with Kaelin Jewell
“I love these close-looking classes; [it’s great] to see the details of each painting and to have an instructor lead our eyes in how best to look at a work of art.” Close-Looking Immersion: Glackens’s The Raft with William Perthes
“The instructor was amazing! She was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, funny, and open to questions. She brought in outside resources and made herself available via email for questions between classes. I would take anything she teaches.” The Impressionists: Friends and Family with Caterina Pierre
Go Further
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Explore works by the Netherlandish painters and the connections between their art. Instructor: Larry Silver
Paul Gauguin: His Art and Legacy
The course delves into Gauguin’s style, subject matter, and problematic legacy. Instructor: Christa DiMarco
Close-Looking Immersion: Van Gogh’s The Postman
Our 90-minute immersions provide opportunities to study and discuss individual works. Instructor: Kaelin Jewell