Stolen Matisse Recovered in UK
- January 07, 2013 10:56
A stolen painting by Henri Matisse was found in England after an alert art dealer notified authorities. Valued at $1 million, Le Jardin, or The Garden, was taken during a brash robbery at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm in 1987.
An art dealer in Essex was offered the painting by a Polish collector in December. Charles Roberts, of Charles Fine Art, researched the work on the Art Loss Register only to discover it had been stolen.
Roberts notified the ALS who successfully retrieved the painting and will hand it over to the Swedish Ministry of Culture.
The Matisse was taken by thieves wielding a sledgehammer in the early morning hours of May 11, 1987. Private guards arrived after an alarm sounded, but the artwork and thieves were already gone.
An exobitant ransom was reportedly offered by the thieves for the return of the work, but the museum never relented to their demands.
The Matisse was government owned and not insured.
![Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.](/images/c/e2/2e/Jan20_Rape_of_Europa100x100_c.jpg "Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.")
