Thieves steal Renoir paintings from French Riviera museum
Armed raiders took four works from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer before dawn, dropping some during a police chase.
KEY POINTS
- Four paintings taken from Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer before 6 a.m. Tuesday
- Police chase forced thieves to drop at least one painting
- Two to three works still missing, including "Madame Colonna Romano"
- Museum holds 13 Renoir paintings in artist's former mansion
- Investigation underway; theft appeared carefully planned
Thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer on the French Riviera shortly before 6 a.m. on Tuesday and seized four paintings, according to Mayor Bryan Masson. Police pursued the raiders, who abandoned at least one canvas while fleeing.
Authorities recovered one or two of the stolen works at the scene, but two to three paintings remain missing. The museum, housed in Pierre-Auguste Renoir's former hillside mansion near Nice, holds 13 of the master's paintings and about 40 sculptures, furniture pieces and photographs.
“Attacking the Renoir museum is attacking a part of the history and heritage of Cagnes-sur-Mer. These actions are particularly serious.”
Among the stolen works is "Madame Colonna Romano," an oil on canvas described as having "inestimable" value and a complex wartime provenance, Nice-Matin reported. Mayor Masson did not publicly identify the other missing paintings.
French police are hunting the suspects and investigating what appears to have been a carefully planned operation lasting only minutes. Renoir's most valuable works have sold for tens of millions of dollars at auction.
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