Two Renoir paintings stolen last month from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice, in south-east France have been recovered. The Alpes-Maritimes judicial police service was contacted for comment.
Six suspects have been arrested in connection to last month's theft. According to the newspaper Nice-Matin, the two suspected burglars are presumed to be among the six individuals taken into custody.
The arrests were made following coordinated police operations across southern and eastern France. In a press statement, Bryan Masson, the mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, also thanked the country's Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property. No charges have been announced.
Stolen: Renoir’s Madame Colonna Romano (1910) and Jeune femme au puits (young woman at the well, 1886)
Musée Renoir
The thieves took four paintings but dropped two as they fled. The office of the town’s mayor says the estimated value of the stolen art was €9m. Madame Colonna Romano (1910) and Jeune femme au puits (young woman at the well, 1886) are the two stolen paintings. The other works reportedly removed but not taken were Portrait of Madame Stephen Pichon (1895) and Coco Lisant (1905). France's culture minister Catherine Pégard issued a statement at the time of the burglary indicating that the four paintings taken from the Renoir Museum were part of the Musée d'Orsay collection in Paris, and have been on loan in Cagnes-sur-Mer since 1995.
“These two paintings are far more than works of art. They are part of our city’s history, our cultural heritage and the legacy Auguste Renoir left to Cagnes-sur-Mer,” Masson said in a statement. ”Their recovery is a tremendous relief for the people of Cagnes-sur-Mer and for everyone who cares deeply about our museum.”