Two paintings by French Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir that were stolen from a museum in southern France a month ago have been recovered, the mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Bryan Masson, said on Friday.
"These two paintings are not just works of art. They are part of our city's history," Masson said. "Knowing they have been found is a great relief."
According to local authorities, six people have been arrested in connection with the theft. Masson did not say where the paintings were found or what condition they were in.
How the theft unfolded
According to Masson's account at the time of the incident, two thieves broke into the Renoir Museum at around 6 a.m. on September 8. They cut through a fence to enter the grounds, smashed a window and used a power saw to cut the mounts holding the picture frames.
He described the thieves as "well equipped" and "well informed."
The museum's alarm sounded at 5:48 a.m., and municipal police arrived five minutes later, forcing the thieves to flee.
They made off with four paintings, which the mayor valued at about 9 million euros ($10.5 million).
According to the prosecutor's office, two of the stolen works – Renoir's "Portrait of Madame Pichon" and "Coco Reading" – were later found abandoned in the museum's garden.
The two still missing are "Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano" and "Young Woman at the Well," the office said.
Police said last month that the thieves were not first-time offenders and had scouted the site in advance.
The Marseille prosecutor has opened an investigation into organized theft, and the national office for trafficking in cultural goods has joined the inquiry.
A string of museum thefts
The museum, which opened in 1960, is housed in the artist's last home, where he died in 1919.
"This should serve as a warning about protecting our museums," Masson said after the theft.
The theft came less than a year after jewelry worth about $100 million was stolen from the Louvre in Paris in a daytime robbery. Four suspects have been arrested, but the jewelry has not been found.
In August, Italian police said they had recovered paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth more than $10.4 million that were stolen from a museum in March.
