Robbers made off with priceless 18th century jewellery from a state museum in Dresden on Monday, police and museum directors said, in a major art heist that has shocked Germany. The thieves at dawn broke into the Green Vault at Dresden's Royal Palace -- home to around 4,000 precious objects of ivory, gold, silver and jewels -- after a power cut deactivated the alarm. The stolen items included brilliant-cut diamonds that belonged to a collection of jewellery of 18th-century Saxony ruler Augustus the Strong. Museum directors had earlier feared much of three sets of diamond jewellery in the collection were snatched, but the loss turned out to be more limited than thought. "The criminals didn't manage to take everything," the director of Dresden's state art collections Marion Ackermann told public broadcaster ZDF on Monday evening.

Magnificent thermal baths designed to be the jewel of Pompeii but destroyed by a volcanic eruption before they could be completed opened to visitors for the first time on Monday after a painstaking excavation. Marble pillars and blocks lie where they were abandoned when the city was submerged by a pyroclastic flow from Mount Vesuvius in the 79 AD disaster. But excavators also found a victim of the disaster, the skeleton of a child who had sought shelter there in vain. The architects "were inspired by Emperor Nero's thermal baths in Rome. The rooms here were to be bigger and lighter, with marble pools," the archaeological site's director Massimo Osanna told AFP. The Central Baths lie in an area restored under the Great Pompeii Project, launched in 2012 to save the historical site after the collapse of the 2000-year-old "House of the Gladiators", which sparked outrage worldwide. "It was an emotionally charged dig," said Alberta

An iconic US company with a storied history, the jeweler Tiffany agreed Monday to be acquired by French luxury giant LVMH for $16.2 billion. Upon sealing the deal, LVMH chief Bernard Arnault called Tiffany itself a "jewel" and vowed to bestow it with "the same dedication and commitment" that the company had applied to all its businesses. The company's story dates back to 1837 when founder Charles Lewis Tiffany opened a store on Broadway in New York that sold stationary, handkerchiefs and other finery. Over the next decade or so, the company shifted to jewelry, especially in 1848 through acquisitions of top European collections, including diamonds worn by Marie-Antoinette. In 1850, Tiffany opened a store in Paris at rue de Richelieu, which was followed by a London store in 1868 and a watch factory in Geneva a few years later. The company flourished further when Charles' son, Louis Comfort Tiffany -- a painter, born

The Cape Ann Museum has received the promised gift of a significant watercolor by the American artist, Winslow Homer (1836–1910), for its permanent collection. This painting, Boy Hailing Schooners, 1880, was hung for the first time at the Museum this weekend and arrives just before the Museum’s nationally acclaimed and most popular exhibition to date, Homer at the Beach: A Marine Painter’s Journey, 1869-1880, closes December 1. “We are so very grateful for this important work to join our growing permanent collection,� said Museum Director Oliver Barker. “It points to our concerted strategy to strategically build the Museum’s collections by adding significant and iconic works that attest to the paramount role that Cape Ann has played in shaping both American art and history.� This new addition is a promised gift from Janet and William Ellery James, whose family history on Cape

Phillips announced highlights ahead of the New Now auction in London on 12 December. Featuring 224 lots, New Now will offer works of art by established artists including leading highlights by William Kentridge, Damien Hirst and Jonas Wood. In the spirit of New Now this sale will also feature a strong selection of works by young and emerging artists such as Eddie Martinez and Katharina Grosse, following the success and world records established for these artists at Phillips this year. Simon Tovey, Head of New Now, said: “Building on the success of our September sale in New York, which achieved our highest total for our New Now sale platform, we are excited to continue with our new catalogue initiative in our forthcoming New Now London sale. Designed to reduce environmental impact and to encourage the exploration of our digital resources, the new catalogue is streamlined, easier to review and immediately engaging with a concentr