The Middle Peninsula Fine Arts Association of Gloucester, a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts community partner, will host a lecture titled “Stranger than Fiction: Great Art Heists in History” at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15, at Arts on Main, 6580 Main Street, Gloucester. It is free and open to the public.

Speaker Anne Kenny-Urban, executive director of Agecroft Hall & Gardens in Richmond, will reveal what Japanese gangsters, bear spray, and daring boat getaways have in common with noteworthy art thefts. Those attending will travel the globe learning why museums from Amsterdam to Zimbabwe have been targets for thieves and what tools the thieves used to elude detection.

“Find out who got caught … and who did not,” said a press release.

Agecroft Hall is a house built in the 16th century in England and moved to Richmond in 1925. Kenny-Urban holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a master’s in art history from the University of Chicago, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. She previously worked for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Upcoming lectures in the 2026 lecture season are “The Amazing Benefits of Art on Aging,” “The Bold and the Beautiful—A Survey of the Neoclassic and Romantic Movements,” and “Taking Tea and Taxes.”

Those who would like to have dinner with association members prior to the lecture, at 5:45 p.m., should email mpfaa1958@gmail.com no later than Sunday, Jan. 11. The cost is $26.