"Stolen from Gardner Museum: Chez Tortoni;" Fingerprint Ink on card; 1994.

Stolen Manet: Chez Tortoni

“…In Sabba’s version of the stolen painting, the eyes of the gentleman were large and round and dark. He looked sadder and more contemplative than in the original. The fingerprint card asked for the arrestee’s name, height, weight, and social security number, but the spaces were blank except for the daubed re-creation of the stolen image, which rose above the form’s lines and boxes, as if it couldn’t be restricted by categorization. But the work could also be read as an argument that art itself was an illegal act, a way to transgress and transform, to keep ideas alive through robbery and rip-offs. Thieves swiped the original-Sabba made a copy.”
–Written by Ulrich Boser in his outstanding new book: The Gardner Heist; Harpers Collins; 2009; ISBN: 978-0-06-145183-6. Links to purchase this book are available via our Amazon.com store.

"Stolen From Gardner Museum: Rembrandt Self Portrait;" Fingerprint Ink on Card; 1994.

"Stolen From Gardner Museum: Chinese Ku from the Shang era, 1200 BCE";
Fingerprint ink on card; 1994.


"Salvador Dali': Artist genius and prankster/fraudster;" Fingerprint ink on card; 1994.

Stolen: The Scream; finger print ink on police fingerprint card done in the artist's prints; Charlie Sabba.

"Wanted: Whitey Bulger (suspected of possessing the Gardner art works for a short time);
oil, pastel, on FBI wanted card"

"Vincenzo Peruggia: Stole the Monalisa from the Louvre in 1911;
fingerprint ink on fingerprint card done in the artist's prints"