Canvas Of Crimes: Stolen By Those Who Were Trusted

by Alexandra Mansilla

Canvas Of Crimes: Stolen By Those Who Were Trusted

27 Feb 2026

True crime doesn’t always involve broken windows, night guards tied to chairs, or alarms screaming into the dark. Sometimes nothing breaks at all. Sometimes the doors are already open. Sometimes the thief has a badge, a key, and a job.

Welcome back to Canvas of Crimes, the STR podcast where the art world stops being polite and starts being dangerous.

In Episode 2, The Inside Job, we discuss the crimes that feel most unsettling because they come from within. No dramatic break-ins. No outsiders scaling walls. Just trusted insiders who know the schedules, the blind spots, the storage rooms, and exactly which objects no one has checked in years.

From the theft of the Mona Lisa to the British Museum scandal, where ancient jewelry slipped away and resurfaced on eBay for the price of a takeaway, to rare books quietly replaced with fakes and left unchecked for years, these stories show that cultural heritage doesn’t always vanish through force. Sometimes, it disappears through familiarity.

We will talk about curators, archivists, and researchers. About access without oversight. About institutions so large that losing a masterpiece can feel like misplacing a paperclip. And about the uncomfortable truth that sometimes the weakest point in museum security isn’t technology.

It is trust.

If you think museums are safe because they are prestigious, this episode might change your mind.

Listen to Episode 2 of Canvas of Crimes now. And next time you walk past a display case, ask yourself: is it protected or just trusted?

by Alexandra Mansilla