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Stolen Picasso works recovered in Serbia

Glass and Pitcher (Verre et Pichet) is a still life painted in red and green in 1944

The oil paintings - Head of Horse and Glass and Pitcher - both belong to the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany.

They had been loaned to an exhibition in the Swiss town of Pfaeffikon, near Zurich, at the time of their theft.

It is not clear how the pictures were found nor whether any possible suspects had been identified. No arrests have been made, according to local media reports.

Police are now trying to ascertain who brought the paintings into Serbia, Reuters news agency said.

Switzerland has submitted a request for the paintings - believed to be worth $4.3 million (£2.7m) - to be returned.

via bbc.co.uk

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Five masterpieces stolen from Paris museu' could have been crushed in rubbish truck

Posted by zichi Lorentz

Five world-famous paintings including ones by Picasso and Matisse worth up to £400million were crushed in a rubbish truck after being stolen, it has been claimed.
The masterpieces were all part of record-breaking haul from one of Paris's most prestigious galleries which was described by police as the 'Art Heist of the Century'.
If the claims - made by an underworld figure allegedly involved in the crime - prove true, then it will be one of the biggest catastrophes in the history of art.

Dove with Green Peas' by Pablo Picasso: The masterpieces were all part of record-breaking haul from one of Paris's most prestigious galleries which was described by police as the 'Art Heist of the Century'

In May last year a single 'cat-burglar' broke into the city's Museum of Modern Art, close to the Eiffel Tower, and got away with five pieces after cutting them from their frames.
Sleeping guards and a faulty alarm system failed to stop the hooded man as he made off with Dove with Green Peas by Pablo Picasso (1911), Pastoral by Henri Matisse (1906), Olive Tree near l'Estaque by Georges Braque (1906), Woman with Fan by Amedeo Modigliani (1919) and Still Life with Candlestick by Fernand Leger (1922).
The raid immediately leapt into crime folklore, with specialist police forces and private detective firms around the globe uniting to try and retrieve the paintings.

via dailymail.co.uk

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Video: Art hoard 'worth millions of euros' found in Polish bricklayer's shed -

Posted by zichi Lorentz

via telegraph.co.uk

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A Stolen Rubens Painting, Missing for a Decade, Resurfaces in Greece

Posted by zichi Lorentz

The long odyssey of a painting by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens that was stolen from a Belgian museum ten years ago is finally coming to an end. Two people have been arrested in Greece and charged with possession of stolen property after the canvas was found with them, though they are not believed to be the original art thieves.

Neither the work's title nor the museum from which it was stolen have been officially revealed. The Greek culture ministry told the AP that the work dates to 1618, was stolen in 2001, and is "a particularly important painting" that has been authenticated by experts. According to Europe 1, an anonymous police source indicated that the painting depicts a boar hunt. A Rubens oil sketch matching that description was stolen from Ghent's Fine Arts Museum in 2001, the Independent reported at the time, when three masked robbers grabbed "The Hunt for the Caledonian Wild Boar" and "The Flagellation of Christ," both by Rubens, from the museum wall, accidentally dropping the latter in their hurried getaway.

According to the Greek press agency ANA, the police laid a trap for the crooks by posing as potential buyers of the stolen painting. The couple offered to part with the 11-by-20-inch canvas for €6 million ($8.6 million). The work's value is estimated at €200,000 ($285,000).