Photo: Reuters
The theft took place on the night of March 22–23. Two criminals broke into the museum through a window and removed the works from the walls. Surveillance cameras captured the robbery: the entire operation took about three minutes.
The thieves made off with “Still Life with Cherries” by Paul Cézanne (1890), “Fish” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1917), and “Odalisque on a Terrace” by Henri Matisse (1922).
A few months later, a unit of the Carabinieri dedicated to protecting cultural heritage discovered the stolen works in an apartment in Parma, according to Reuters. Investigators are now determining the circumstances of the theft and the possible roles of nine suspects.
The most valuable of the recovered works turned out to be Renoir’s “Fish”—its value is estimated at approximately €6 million ($6.9 million).
The Magnani Rocca Foundation, known as the “Villa of Masterpieces,” houses the collection of Italian collector and art historian Luigi Magnani. In addition to the recovered works, the museum features pieces by Titian, Dürer, Rubens, Goya, Canova, and de Chirico.
It took the thieves just three minutes to carry works worth more than $10 million out of the museum. It took months to recover them. But most importantly, they did not disappear into the underground art market: Cézanne, Matisse, and Renoir are back where they belong—in the museum.
