Thieves stole Renoir paintings from French museum
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Two thieves broke into the Renoir Collection museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, early in the morning and stole four paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
The thieves, equipped with a jigsaw and an electric knife, triggered the museum’s alarm system before forcing their way inside. They cut the paintings free from their mountings, but abandoned two of the works during their escape.
The stolen paintings are a portrait of Madame Colonna Romano from 1910 and Jeune femme au puits (Young Woman at the Well) from 1886. Police arrived at the scene within five minutes of the alarm sounding, finding the thieves fleeing through the museum’s garden where they left behind the paintings Coco lisant (Coco Reading) from 1905 and a portrait of Madame Pichon from 1895.
Bryan Masson, the mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, stated the thieves were well-prepared and wore helmets during the robbery. He connected the incident to a recent surge in museum thefts across Europe, particularly following a theft at the Louvre museum last October. Arthur Brand, a specialist in art theft, believes the Louvre theft encouraged criminals to target smaller museums.
Authorities are currently working to locate the thieves and recover the two missing paintings from a collection of twelve Renoir works held at the museum.
