It takes about seven minutes to open up and read this newsletter which is the same time it took a gang of thieves to escape with a priceless haul of jewels from the Louvre on Sunday.

The Paris museum was still closed today with queues of visitors being turned away as the police investigation continued and the recriminations began.

French justice minister Gérald Darmanin told journalists the theft in the middle of Paris in broad daylight gave "France a terrible image", while the chief executive of Art Recovery International Chris Marinello told the BBC the treasures would be "long gone" unless police can find them in the next two days.

Among the missing eight pieces are an emerald-and-diamond necklace Napoleon gave his wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a headband that belonged to Empress Eugénie with almost 2,000 diamonds.

The last theft from the Louvre saw a Camille Corot painting taken in 1998. It was never recovered.

The height of an abstract glass artwork by Julie Mehretu that will light up the 225-ft high obelisk - dubbed the Obamalisk - at the Obama Presidential Center on the Southside of Chicago which is due to open next year.

Rules are made to be broken seems to be the spirit of Art Basel Paris which has lifted its previous diktat on nothing pre-20th century by allowing Gagosian to bring an old master to what is very much a modern and contemporary show.

The painting in question - Peter Paul Rubens’s The Virgin and Christ Child, with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist - was given special authorization to be included in the main sector of the fair.

The gallery says the rules were changed "in recognition of its exceptional quality and its resonance with other modern and contemporary works in Gagosian’s booth".

It will be on show alongside more typical Art Basel fare including work by John Currin, Jadé Fadojutimi, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin and Jenny Saville.

Art Basel's rival Frieze has run a separate Masters fair featuring historic paintings alongside its contemporary London event for several years.

1 - The Louvre was not the only museum with uninvited guests this weekend. The British Museum's first fundraising ball in London was briefly interrupted when a waitress took to the stage alongside its chairman George Osborne in a pro-Palestinian protest.

2 - The Dallas Invitational art fair is launching a satellite show in London next year. The London Invitational will take over a floor of the luxury Chancery Rosewood Hotel, which is in the former US embassy building in Grosvenor Square, during 2026 Frieze Week.

3 - Alison Jacques gallery in London has teamed up with New York's Tina Kim Gallery and Silverlens in Manila to represent the estate of Filipino American artist Pacita Abad. It is taking her work to this year's Art Basel Paris and hosting a solo exhibition at the Cork Street gallery in 2027.