Italian authorities announced the successful recovery of three significant paintings by renowned French artists Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which had been stolen from a museum near Parma earlier this year. The Carabinieri officers discovered the valuable artworks in an apartment in Parma and have 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 on the night of March 22-23. Experts estimate the combined value of the recovered paintings to exceed €9 million ($14.4 million).
Video footage released by the police captured the swift operation of the theft, with two masked burglars entering through a window, swiftly removing the artworks from the wall, and fleeing the scene in under three minutes. The Fondazione Magnani Rocca is renowned for housing a private collection curated by the late music critic Luigi Magnani, featuring masterpieces by artists such as Titian, Francisco Goya, Claude Monet, and Giorgio Morandi.