Stolen Van Gogh portray recovered three years after museum raid

Sep 12, 2023 at 11:01 PM
Stolen Van Gogh portray recovered three years after museum raid

A Vincent van Gogh portray stolen from a museum within the Netherlands throughout a COVID-19 lockdown has been discovered.

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, also called the Spring Garden, was snatched from the Singer Laren museum, about 30km (19 miles) east of Amsterdam, on 30 March 2020, when the attraction was closed to stop the unfold of coronavirus.

Thieves smashed glass doorways throughout an in a single day raid to take the 1884 art work, which was on mortgage from the Groninger Museum, within the metropolis of Groningen, round 180km (112 miles) from the Dutch capital.

It has “suffered but is – at first glance – still in good condition,” the Groninger mentioned.

Director Andreas Bluhm mentioned in an announcement: “The museum is extraordinarily pleased and relieved that the work is again.

“We are very grateful to everyone to contributed to this good outcome.”

The museum additionally singled out Dutch artwork sleuth Arthur Brand for his “key role in this case” – however declined to supply additional data on how the portray was recovered.

“Police have been closely involved in all phases (of the recovery of the painting),” the museum added.

The oil portray, which is being stored quickly on the Van Gogh Museum within the Dutch capital, shall be topic to scientific examination within the coming months.

The painting was stolen from the Museum Singer Laren, east of Amsterdam, during the COVID lockdown in March 2020 Pic: AP
Image:
The portray was stolen from the Singer Laren museum in the course of the COVID lockdown in March 2020. Pic: AP

The worth of the portray has not been revealed.

An insurance coverage firm paid the Groninger Museum for the loss and is now the formal proprietor, though the museum has mentioned it is going to train its proper to first buy of the work.

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It hopes to place the portray on show quickly, but it surely may take “weeks, if not months”.

The 25cm by 57cm (10in by 22in) creation depicts an individual standing within the backyard of the rectory at Nuenen – a rural Dutch city the place Van Gogh’s mother and father lived – surrounded by bushes, with a church tower within the background.

It dates to a time when Van Gogh had moved again to his household dwelling and painted the life he noticed there, together with his well-known work, The Potato Eaters.

Later, the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter moved to southern France earlier than his dying in 1890.