I'm not convinced he read his own materials, when he describes a painting - which is famous for showing pickpocketing of people distracted by a magic trick - as

I'm not convinced he read his own materials, when he describes a painting - which is famous for showing pickpocketing of people distracted by a magic trick - as > This dude is looking up like ‘no way he did that without god's help’ No, the dude is looking up so as to distract people and avoid signaling what he's doing, while he steals the wallet of the rube bending over in front of him... (Which is extremely on point and topical for OP's thesis, yet apparently does not realize it.)