Van Gogh’s painting ‘The Garden of the Parsonage of Nuenen in Spring’, stolen in March 2020, was recovered by Dutch authorities this week and returned to its owner, the artistic crimes unit of the Hague police announced on Tuesday.
This painting, which was stolen from an Amsterdam museum in May 2020, at the beginning of the first confinement of the Covid-19 pandemic, was recovered by authorities in collaboration with detective Arthur Brand, who specializes in works of art, he told Agence France Presse. AFP) officer Richard Bronswijk, from the Art Crimes Unit of the Dutch police.
The detective took possession of the missing painting in Amsterdam on Monday, wrapped in protective plastic, in a pillowcase, in a blue raffia bag from Ikea, according to the images in a short video described by AFP.
“Confirming that it was really the stolen Van Gogh was one of the best moments of my life,” Arthur Brand told the French agency. According to this detective, known as “the Indiana Jones of the art world”, the return follows frequent calls from him and the authorities.
“The Parsonage Garden of Nuenen in Spring”, dated 1884 (with a later label from 1885, applied to the back), has an estimated value of between three and six million euros. It was stolen on the night of March 30, 2020 from Museum Singer Laren in Amsterdam, when it was on display there on loan from the Groninger Museum.
The robbery took place on the birthday of Vincent van Gogh, an artist born in 1853 who died in France in 1890.
Surveillance footage released shortly after the robbery showed a man smashing a glass door and then leaving with the painting.
In April 2021, Dutch police arrested a man, identified as Nils M., for this robbery, as well as for the theft of the painting “Two Laughing Young People”, by Frans Hals. Nils M. was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Detective Arthur Brand told AFP today that he discovered “from a source in the criminal world, who had bought the Van Gogh” from Nils M, after confirming that it was the art dealer Peter Roy K., sentenced to 12 years in prison. arrest for receiving stolen property. Roy K. wanted to use the situation to negotiate a reduced sentence, which did not happen.
According to the detective, the delivery was made by a man unrelated to the crime.
Arthur Brand rose to prominence as a detective in the art world for recovering stolen works such as Picasso’s “Hitler’s Horses”.
‘The garden of the presbytery of Nuenen in spring’, by Van Gogh, has already been returned to the Groningen museum, which owns the painting.
The painting “Two laughing young people”, by Frans Hals, remains missing.
Source: DN
