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"A blog about art crimes, illicit trafficking, forgery, art theft and cultural heritage protection."

Italian police have recovered three valuable paintings by French masters Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse that were stolen from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum near Parma in northern Italy. The Carabinieri’s cultural heritage protection unit found the artworks in an apartment in Parma, according to Italian news agency AGI. Nine Moldovan nationals have reportedly been placed under investigation in connection with the theft, although the article does not indicate that they have been convicted or charged. The paintings were stolen during the night of March 22 to 23 from the museum in Mamiano di Traversetolo, near Parma. Their combined estimated value was more than €9 million (about US$10.4 million). The recovered works are Cézanne’s “Tasse et Plat de Cerises” (“Cup and Plate of Cherries”), Renoir’s “Les Poissons” (“The Fish”) and Matisse’s “Odalisque sur la Terrasse” (“Odalisque on the Terrace”). Police also released video footage showing how the theft was carried out. Two masked burglars entered the museum through a window, removed the three paintings from the walls and left almost immediately. The entire operation took less than three minutes, highlighting the speed and apparent coordination of the crime. The Fondazione Magnani Rocca houses a private art collection assembled by the late Italian music critic Luigi Magnani. In addition to the recovered French paintings, the collection includes works by major artists such as Titian, Francisco Goya, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Claude Monet, Peter Paul Rubens and Giorgio Morandi. The recovery restores three significant works to the collection following the high-value museum theft.

Thieves stole several historic pendulum clocks from the clock museum in Le Locle, Neuchâtel, early Sunday morning and fled across the border to France, SRF reported. The burglary alarm was triggered at 6:14 a.m., according to the Neuchâtel public prosecutor’s office and police. A witness later re…

Lalique theft investigation widens after a French museum burglary left 27 jewellery pieces missing.

YouTube video by B.C. Begley

Paris’ Louvre Museum, home to world-renowned art and historical treasures, was targeted in a rapid early-morning heist on October 19,

The theft is a serious loss for the country's cultural heritage, which had already sustained extensive damage during a long civil war

Scientists are still unravelling the thefts of Colin Wyatt, an English adventurer, artist and naturalist who charmed the entomological community The butterfly was dead when the old man found it, lying...