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 near Parma in March. The Carabinieri officers located the artworks in an apartment in Parma and initiated an investigation involving nine Moldovan individuals linked to the theft.
The stolen paintings, including Cezanne’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. Art experts estimated the combined value of the recovered works at over €9 million ($14.4 million).
Video footage released by the police depicted the swift theft, where two masked burglars entered through a window, swiftly removed the paintings from the walls, and left the premises within three minutes. The Fondazione Magnani Rocca, known for its private collection established by the late music critic Luigi Magnani, houses a significant array of artworks by renowned artists such as Titian, Francisco Goya, and Claude Monet.