Boston Artist Recreates Masterpieces Stolen From Gardner Museum

BOSTON (CBS) - A local artist is paying homage to 13 missing pieces of art, the casualties of the largest unsolved art heist in American history. Local artist Giovanni DeCunto has recreated the 13 missing works of art stolen back in March of 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

They were on display at the Four Seasons Hotel. The works are acrylic on canvas. They are recreations, modern interpretations of masterpieces like Christ In The Storm on The Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt and Vermeer's The Concert.

In a way, they are now brought back to life, before the viewer's eyes once again. "I had studied all these paintings at the Gardner Museum," said DeCunto. "I thought it would be a tribute, so I thought I would do something that would be contemporary."

The paintings are somewhat faithful to the original but with a healthy dose of DeCunto's own artistic flourishes. "I'm an artist. I have my own signature. I thought it was important to me to pay homage to that," he said.

He's been an artist since he was five years old and says he sold his first painting at age 12. But this may be his ultimate achievement. The public showing of the collection is next month, March 1-17, at the Giovanni DeCunto Gallery at 116 South Street, Boston.