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A major manhunt is underway around the southern French Mediterranean resort of Cagnes-sur-Mer after thieves broke into the Renoir Museum and stole four artworks but abandoned two while they escaped.
A group of “well-equipped” and “well-informed” thieves entered the building via the garden, the town’s mayor, Bryan Masson, told reporters at the scene.
They sliced through a fence with an electric knife or saw, entered the museum through the ground floor, and then cut the clips securing the artwork frames, Masson said in remarks carried by local broadcaster Ici Azur.
According to Masson, the pair were “spotted thanks to the town’s video surveillance cameras.
Initial reports estimated the stolen haul to be worth up to €9 million euros.
In a written statement obtained by the AP news agency, two of the stolen works were found in the museum garden, but the two others – “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well” – are still missing.
Authorities in the French Riveira town say the alarm at the museum went off at 5h48 on Tuesday morning and police were on the scene five minutes later.
The Renoir Museum, located between Cannes and Nice, is the Mediterranean coastal town most famous attraction.
Open since 1960, it was the painter’s last home before his death in 1919 from pulmonary congestion when he was 78-years old.
Its collection includes portraits, landscapes and nudes painted by Renoir as well as objects and furniture which belonged to artist.
Renaissance robberies
The heist comes just under a month since Italian police recovered Renoir paintings among several other Renaissance artists works stolen in less than three minutes from a villa near Parma in northern Italy in March.
Video footage released by police showed two thieves wearing headlamps and with their faces covered entering the Magnani-Rocca Foundation by breaking through a window.
They headed straight into a room where the three paintings hung and took them off the wall, before heading back to the window and passing them through to an accomplice waiting outside.
Security at museums and galleries in France has been under general scrutiny since October last year when eight items worth around €100 million were snatched during a daring daylight robbery from the Louvre.
The four suspected robbers have been arrested but the stolen items are yet to be recovered despite an international hunt.
Art crime experts say works that are instantly recognisable are often stolen to order as they can not be sold through reputable channels. Instead, it’s thought the goods often pass between criminals as collateral for other illegal activity.
Art theft consultant James Ratcliffe of the Art Loss Register told AP that thieves are increasingly targeting valuable artifacts, including traditional art.
“Sadly, without further funding to improve museum security, we are likely to see an increase in the number of museum thefts we see. Each time thefts occur, it draws yet more attention to the perception of these museums as relatively easy targets.
Additional sources • AP