Cost of insuring art rises, Yazzy's at www.williamverdult.com

According to Yvette Essen of Telegraph.co.uk the cost of insuring art is rising for the first time in 18 months following an unprecedented number of high-profile robberies.

Although stolen paintings tend to be recovered as they are difficult to sell in the open market or display again, fears that there will be more thefts, and a renewed belief that the value of works will continue to soar, have caused underwriters to lift their prices.

Works by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Degas and Monet were among those stolen recently in Zurich, Switzerland.

Hiscox, the largest specialist insurer of fine art in Europe, said premiums are rising by around 10pc in response to a recent spate of robberies. Earlier this month, three masked and armed thieves stole four paintings by Cézanne, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet, worth £81m, from the E G Buehrle Collection in Zurich, in one of the world's biggest raids.

The Zurich theft came just four days after another major robbery in the same area, when thieves stole two Picasso paintings - Tête de Cheval, from 1962, and Verre et Pichet, from 1944 - from a nearby cultural centre.

Charles Dupplin, chairman of Hiscox's art and private client division, said: "There has been a marked increase in levels of activity of major art thefts driven in part by very large increases in the value of modern art."

He added that although the Buehrle masterpieces have since been recovered in a car at a nearby mental hospital, there is the "heart attack factor for art insurers" and underwriters are now talking to museums about toughening up their security.

advertisement"Premiums will edge up for museums by up to 10pc," he said. "Insurers will be discussing with museums security arrangements."

Despite fears about an economic slowdown, art prices are becoming ever more valuable - as demonstrated by the recent Christie's and Sotheby's art auctions. This month Francis Bacon's Triptych broke records as it became the most expensive post war work of art ever to be sold in Europe, when it fetched a price of £26.3m. Aon, the world's second largest insurance broker said premiums had tumbled by up to 35pc over the past 18 months but are now showing signs of stabilising.

Charles Hamilton-Stubber, director of its private risk management team, said the earlier fall in premiums was due to more competition from underwriters. "It is a high net worth area and an attractive risk to write," he explained. Mr Hamilton-Stubber said: "Values are going up the whole time. Judging by the recent sales, the art market has not seen any slowdown at all." The art market traditionally tends to lag downturns in the financial and property markets.