Stolen Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse recovered in Italy

Italian police said Friday that paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth more than nine million euros ($10.4 million) have been recovered after they were stolen from a museum in northern Italy in March.

The works were taken by masked thieves from the villa of the Magnani-Rocca Foundation, near Parma, in a heist that lasted under three minutes.

Parma police chief Andrea Pagliaro told AFP that the investigation centred on a gang of nine Moldavian suspects. He said five are accused of carrying out the theft and that the paintings were recovered at the house of one suspect.

Police footage showed two thieves with headlamps and covered faces entering the villa by breaking through a window. They went straight to the room where the three paintings hung, removed them from the wall and passed them through the window to an accomplice outside.

The stolen works were “Fish” by Auguste Renoir, “Still Life with Cherries” by Paul Cezanne and “Odalisque on the Terrace” by Henri Matisse. Police said the Renoir was worth three million euros, the Cezanne six million euros and the Matisse about 20,000 euros.

The Magnani-Rocca Foundation, about 20 kilometres from Parma, houses the collection of art historian Luigi Magnani, including works by Durer, Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya and Monet.

The theft came during a series of robberies targeting European museums. Last October, thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris in broad daylight and escaped in less than eight minutes with jewellery worth $102 million.