René Alphonse van den Berghe (Nivelles, 1940 – 19 June 2020), known as Erik the Belgian (Erik el Belga) in Spain, was a Belgian art dealer implicated in the theft to order of a large number of artworks from Spanish churches.[1] Although Erik was imprisoned several times, ultimately in Spain for 37 months, the Spanish courts failed to convict him of any art theft.[2] Van den Berghe was a self-proclaimed thief, stating: "I’m no small-time crook. I’m a high-class thief. I have stolen for the love of art and I have stolen luxury items. Money has no luxury value."[3]

On 7 November 1980 van den Berghe stole six Flemish tapestries from a church in the town of Castrojeriz. These tapestries were made in Bruges by Corneille Schutz in 1654. While the tapestries were recovered by an Interpol-led investigation, a section of the La apoteosis de las artes (The Apotheosis of the Arts) was only recently discovered in February 2022. The fragment was returned to the archdiocese of Burgos on 18 February 2022.[3][4][5]

References

  1. ↑ Cristóbal Gnecco, Dorothy Lippert, Ethics and Archaeological Praxis Page 65 1493916467 - 2014 -"Anyway, the biggest looter of ancient, especially religious, art in Spain was René Alphonse van den Berghe, known as “Erik the Belgian,” who was very active since the 1970s and after his stay in prison wrote a book cynically entitled “For the art's sake..."
  2. ↑ Erik le Belge, gentleman voleur 2005 "En 1976, il a écopé de dix ans de prison, en Belgique, pour recel avec récidive. Il s'est évadé de la prison de Verviers. Plus tard, ce sera de l'hôpital pénitentiaire de Madrid. Mais «j'ai oublié tout ça, c'est du passé». En sachant que si Erik le Belge a été frappé de plusieurs condamnations, elles n'ont jamais concerné le vol d'oeuvres d'art. Sur ce point, il a fait 37 mois de préventive en Espagne, avant d'être acquitté. Il a depuis épousé son avocate."
  3. 1 2 Sam Jones (February 21, 2022). "Final piece of 17th-century tapestry stolen 42 years ago found by Spanish police". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ "Finally, Spanish cops recover final piece of 17th-century tapestry after 42 years". WION. February 22, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Spanish police find missing piece of 17th century art stolen in 1980". UPI. February 21, 2022.


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