MILAN: Thieves stole paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse from a museum in Italy a week ago, police said Sunday (Mar 29).
Four masked men entered the villa of the Magnani Rocca Foundation, near Parma in northern Italy, and made off with the artworks overnight last Sunday into Monday, a police spokesman told AFP, confirming a report on the Rai television network.
They made off with “Fish” by Auguste Renoir, “Still Life with Cherries” by Paul Cezanne, and “Odalisque on the Terrace” by Henri Matisse.
The thieves forced a door to gain entrance to a room on the first floor of the building before escaping across the museum’s park.
Police are looking at the museum’s video-surveillance footage and that of neighbouring businesses, said the spokesman.
The Magnani Rocca Foundation hosts the collection of art historian Luigi Magnani, which also includes works by Durer, Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya and Monet.