Two Renoir paintings stolen from French museum are recovered
The two works were seized last month when thieves cut through a fence and smashed a window at the Renoir Museum on the French Riviera.
Two Renoir paintings stolen from French museum are recovered
The works, Jeune fille au puits and Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano, were stolen last month
Two paintings by Auguste Renoir that were taken a month ago from a museum in southern France have been recovered, the local town hall said.
The two works were stolen on 8 September after thieves cut through a fence and smashed a window at the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where the French impressionist spent his final years.
The local mayor praised the authorities for bringing the paintings back and said the news brought immense joy and profound relief.
Six suspects have also been arrested in connection with the heist at the Renoir Museum, the town hall confirmed in a statement.
The theft was the latest in a string of high-profile art heists in Europe.
The two missing paintings were Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano (1910) and Jeune fille au puits (1886).
The thieves had used an electric saw to cut through the frame mountings inside the museum and initially escaped with four paintings, but dropped two of them in the museum garden as they fled.
"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," said Mayor Bryan Masson, who is part of France's National Rally.
More details about how they were recovered were due to be revealed later on Friday.
The Renoir Museum holds 12 works by the famous painter.
Opened in 1960, it contains a range of objects that once belonged to him, including his easel and wheelchair, along with photographs and personal letters.
Earlier this year, paintings by Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse were stolen from a museum near the Italian city of Parma in a raid that lasted just three minutes. They were recovered in August.
France experienced its biggest art robbery in years last October, when crown jewels were stolen in broad daylight from the Louvre in Paris.
Disguised as construction workers, the thieves broke into the Louvre's first-floor Apollo Gallery during the museum's opening hours.
They used an angle-grinder to open display cases and escaped with €88m (£78m) of jewels that once belonged to France's 19th-Century queens and empresses.
The Louvre was later criticised for under-investing in security.