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At least five people have been arrested in France in connection with the theft of two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir from a museum last month, the BBC reported.
The two suspected burglars are believed to be among those detained. Some French outlets, including Nice-Matin, have reported that six people were arrested; local prosecutors have declined to confirm the arrests.
The missing works are “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” (1910) and “Jeune fille au puits” (1886), stolen from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice. Two other works were left behind as the thieves fled.
The suspects are said to have cut through a fence to enter the museum grounds at dawn on 8 September. They smashed a window to get inside and used an electric saw to cut through the paintings’ frame mountings.
According to Nice-Matin, the suspects could be part of an organised criminal gang.
The museum houses 12 works by Renoir. It opened in 1960 in the artist’s former home, where he lived until his death in 1919. The site also displays personal belongings, photographs and letters.
The theft comes amid a series of high-profile art heists in Europe. In August, paintings by Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse were stolen from a museum in Italy in a robbery that lasted three minutes; they were later recovered.
In October last year, thieves stole jewels worth €88 million from the Louvre in Paris during opening hours. Disguised as construction workers, they entered the first-floor Apollo Gallery and used an angle grinder to open display cases. The museum later faced criticism over its security spending.
