Thieves steal 4 Renoirs from a French museum. 2 of the paintings are still missing
PARIS (AP) - Two thieves sliced through a fence, climbed through a window and stole four valuable Renoir paintings Tuesday from a small museum on the French Riviera, but abandoned two of the artworks as they fled, authorities remarked.
PARIS (AP) – Two thieves sliced through a fence, climbed through a window and stole four valuable Renoir paintings Tuesday from a small museum on the French Riviera, but abandoned two of the artworks as they fled, authorities remarked.
What happened
Notably, the whole operation took less than three minutes and targeted the most valuable works in the Renoir Museum in the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer, the regional prosecutor's office remarked.
In practice, the theft conjured up painful memories of the spectacular heist of crown jewels at the Louvre Museum in Paris last year and revived calls for better security a nd better funding for the plenty of cultural sites substantial and small that dot France's landscape.
Cagnes-sur-Mer Mayor Bryan Masson estimated the value of the combined Renoir works stolen Tuesday at 9 million euros ($10.5 million), but art theft experts cautioned they will be extremely hard to sell.
The bottom line
Taken together, the developments around thieves steal 4 Renoirs from a French museum. 2 of the paintings point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.
