Italian authorities announced on Friday that police successfully retrieved 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 uncovered the artworks in an apartment in Parma and initiated an investigation involving nine Moldovan nationals in connection with 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 during the night of March 22-23. Experts estimate the paintings’ combined value to exceed €9 million ($14.4 million).
A surveillance video released by the police captured the swift theft, showing two masked burglars entering through a window, swiftly removing the paintings from the wall, and swiftly exiting the building in under three minutes. The Fondazione Magnani Rocca, known for its private collection assembled by the late music critic Luigi Magnani, houses a variety of artworks by artists such as Titian, Francisco Goya, Claude Monet, and Giorgio Morandi.