Stolen artworks by Cézanne, Matisse and Renoir recovered by Italian police

Stolen artworks by Cézanne, Matisse and Renoir recovered by Italian police

9 people under investigation in connection with theft from museum near Parma in March

Italian police have recovered three paintings by ‌French masters Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse and Pierre-Auguste Renoir that were stolen from a museum near the northern city of Parma ​in March, officials said on ​Friday.

Carabinieri officers from Italy's cultural heritage protection unit found the works of art in ​an apartment in Parma, AGI news agency ⁠reported, adding that ⁠nine Moldovan nationals had ‌been placed under investigation over the theft.

The paintings were taken from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Mamiano di Traversetolo, near ⁠Parma, during the night of March 22-23. Art experts said their estimated value exceeded €9 million ($14.4 million).

The recovered ‌works are Cezanne's Tasse et Plat de Cerises, Renoir's Les Poissons and Matisse's Odalisque sur la Terrasse.

Thieves steal Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse works in 3-minute Italian museum raid

Police on ​Friday released a video of the theft, showing two masked ⁠burglars entering via a window, grabbing the three paintings ⁠off the wall and then immediately exiting the building, ⁠in ⁠an operation ​that took less than three minutes.

The Fondazione Magnani Rocca ​houses a ⁠private collection assembled by the late music critic Luigi Magnani, including works by Titian, Francisco Goya, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Claude Monet, Peter Paul Rubens and Giorgio Morandi.