DNA and vehicle-tracking help recover stolen Renoirs

DNA left on a protective painting cover helped investigators recover two stolen Renoirs and uncover what they suspected were preparations for another art heist, a French prosecutor said on Monday.

Four men were given preliminary charges in the investigation into the Sept. 8 theft from the small Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer on the French Riviera.

The charges include organized theft and criminal association, Marseille Prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said.

Two women stand next to paintings by French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir that were stolen from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, at a news conference in Marseille, France, on Monday following their recovery.

Photo: AFP

One painting, Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano, sustained a tear, while the frame of Young Woman at the Well was slightly damaged, Bessone said.

He estimated their combined value at 4.2 million euros (US$4.7 million).

The thieves used an electric saw to cut through a fence, entered the museum through the ground floor and cut clips securing the frames of four paintings.

An alarm sounded and police officers arrived four minutes later, a swift response that “apparently caused the perpetrators to panic,” Bessone said.

“As they fled, they were unable to take all four paintings and abandoned two of them, which were later found in a protective sleeve,” he said.

The DNA found on the abandoned cover matched that of a 29-year-old already under investigation in a drug trafficking case in which police were tracking his vehicle, Bessone said.

Vehicle-tracking data showed that the suspect, accompanied by a 41-year-old man, went to the home of a third man shortly after the theft, Bessone said.

Police surveillance also showed that the 29-year-old on Oct. 3 visited the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence — home to a large modern art collection. The suspect then met with a fourth man known to police from art theft and forgery cases in 2001 and 2003.

The arrests were prompted by the “very strong suspicion that another heist was imminent,” Bessone said.

The two men suspected of carrying out the museum theft have been given preliminary charges of “theft committed by an organized gang” and “criminal association,” among other counts.

The two men, who have denied wrongdoing, were sent to prison pending further investigation, Bessone said.

The third suspect acknowledged receiving the paintings at his home and hiding them behind a wall built beneath a staircase after the theft.

Investigators recovered the Renoirs from the hiding place, Bessone said.

The fourth suspect acknowledged seeing photographs of the paintings, but said he did not immediately recognize them.

Both of those suspects were given preliminary charges of “concealment” of stolen paintings, and were released under judicial supervision and barred from leaving France.

Two additional people who had been arrested were released without charge.

The Renoir Museum occupies the final home of the leading French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who lived there until his death in 1919. It is the best-known attraction in Cagnes-sur-Mer, a Mediterranean coastal town between Cannes and Nice.

The theft revived painful memories of the spectacular theft of crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris last year and renewed calls for better security and funding at the many cultural sites across France.

French Judicial Police National Director Christian Sainte on Monday said that the country “is repeatedly targeted by organized criminal groups that carry out theft operations targeting valuable objects that are part of our cultural heritage” in museums, castles, places of worship, private homes and art galleries.

French museums recorded 23 cases last year and about 10 this year, he said.