Por que roubar obras de arte?

Interessante o artigo "Opportunity Makes a Thief", de Eric Gibson, que é o editor de cultura do Wall Street Journal. Ele faz uma reflexão sobre o seguinte tema: por que os ladrões assaltam museus? Um trecho: "Perhaps art thievery persists for reasons that have less to do with personal prestige or monetary gain than with a vague sense of cultural longing. When the British mountaineer George Leigh Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, he said 'because it's there.' Maybe that is why art is stolen too. Society has historically expressed its reverence for art by displaying it, paying high prices for it, commissioning it and elevating the people who make it to the status of celebrities if not demi-gods." O Independent de hoje também tratou do tema na reportagem "The art of Stealing".