Italian authorities announced the successful recovery of three valuable paintings by renowned French artists Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which were stolen from a museum close to Parma earlier this year. The Carabinieri officers uncovered the artworks in an apartment in Parma and initiated an investigation involving nine Moldovan individuals in connection with the theft.
The stolen pieces, including Cézanne’s “Tasse et Plat de Cerises,” Renoir’s “Les Poissons,” and Matisse’s “Odalisque sur la Terrasse,” were taken from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Mamiano di Traversetolo during the night of March 22-23. Experts valued the paintings at over €9 million ($14.4 million).
Footage released by the police depicted the swift theft, showing two masked burglars entering through a window, seizing the paintings from the wall, and swiftly exiting the premises within a span of less than three minutes. The Fondazione Magnani Rocca is renowned for housing a private collection curated by the late music critic Luigi Magnani, featuring works by prominent artists such as Titian, Francisco Goya, Claude Monet, and Giorgio Morandi.