Tag: Art theft

Vincent van Gogh: Stolen painting returned to art sleuth in Ikea bag – three years after museum raid

Vincent van Gogh’s The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, painted in 1884, was snatched during an overnight break-in at the Singer Laren museum, east of Amsterdam, while it was closed during a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, by Vincent van Gogh. Pic: AP

A Vincent van Gogh painting stolen from a museum in the Netherlands during a COVID-19 lockdown has been returned to an art sleuth in an Ikea bag.

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, also known as the Spring Garden, was snatched from the Singer Laren museum, about 30km (19 miles) east of Amsterdam, on 30 March 2020, when the attraction was closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Thieves smashed glass doors during an overnight raid to take the 1884 artwork, which was on loan from the Groninger Museum, in the city of Groningen, around 180km (112 miles) from the Dutch capital.

It has “suffered but is – at first glance – still in good condition,” the Groninger said.

The museum singled out Dutch art sleuth Arthur Brand for his “key role in this case” – but declined to provide further information on how the painting was recovered.

Mr Brand, nicknamed the “Indian Jones of the art world”, is seen in footage on the Dutch national broadcaster NOS as he takes the painting out the Ikea bag, unwraps it and shows it to the camera.

‘Extremely happy and relieved’

Director Andreas Bluhm said in a statement: “The museum is extremely happy and relieved that the work is back.

“We are very grateful to everyone to contributed to this good outcome.”

“Police have been closely involved in all phases (of the recovery of the painting),” the museum added.

The oil painting, which is being kept temporarily at the Van Gogh Museum in the Dutch capital, will be subject to scientific examination in the coming months.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/stolen-van-gogh-painting-recovered-three-years-after-museum-raid-12959997

‘Heist at the museum’: Britain says aims to recover 2,000 stolen ‘colonial’ artefacts

The image shows South Asian artefact Kohenoor during a British royal ceremony. — British Museum

Approximately 2,000 treasures, including gold jewellery and diamonds, had been stolen over a lengthy period of time from the British Museum, but recovery attempts had already begun, as per the museum’s head George Osborne.

The museum, one of London’s most popular attractions whose treasures include the Rosetta Stone, an ancient Egyptian relic inscribed with hieroglyphs and other texts, said last week a member of staff had been dismissed after items dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD had been taken from a storeroom.

Museum director Hartwig Fischer said on Friday he would step down after admitting to failings in its investigation into the theft of items from its collection.

Osborne, a former British finance minister, told BBC radio that not all of the museum’s collection was properly catalogued or registered, a situation not unique among large institutions whose collections had been amassed over hundreds of years.

A “forensic” inquiry was being conducted to find out what had been stolen, Osborne said. “We think it’s around 2,000 items,” he said. “But I have to say that’s a very provisional figure and we’re still actively looking.”

“We’ve already started to recover some of the stolen items,” he added, without giving any details of what had been recovered or how.

Osborne said he did not believe there had been any deliberate cover-up after the museum previously rejected a warning in 2021 that the thefts were happening.

Source: https://www.geo.tv/latest/506940-heist-at-the-museum-uk-to-recover-2000-stolen-artefacts-belonging-to-its-former-colonies

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