2023-09-12 11:27:04
Art detective Arthur Brand, nicknamed “the Indiana Jones of the art world”, has found a valuable painting by Vincent Van Gogh that was stolen from a museum during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown there is three and a half years old, police confirmed Tuesday.
“Arthur Brand, in cooperation with the Dutch police, solved this problem,” Richard Bronswijk of the Dutch police’s art crime unit told AFP. “It’s definitely the real thing, there’s no doubt about it,” he added of the painting.
The detective took possession of the missing painting, “The Nuenen Presbytery Garden in Spring”, from 1884, at his home in Amsterdam on Monday. The work, whose value is estimated between three and six million euros, was stolen from the Dutch Singer Laren museum on March 30, 2020 during a heist that made headlines around the world.
>> Also read: A Van Gogh painting stolen from a museum closed due to Covid-19
Hidden in a pillowcase
Arthur Brand, nicknamed “the Indiana Jones of the art world” for tracking down a series of high-profile missing works, said his and Dutch police’s frequent calls for restitution finally bore fruit when a man, whose identity was not revealed for his own safety, handed the detective the painting in a blue Ikea bag, covered in bubble wrap and tucked into a pillowcase .
A video clip provided by the detective shows him unwrapping the painting in his living room, stunned by the discovery. “Confirming that it was indeed the stolen Van Gogh was one of the greatest moments of my life,” Arthur Brand told AFP.
>> “In a few minutes, I’m going to hand over the painting to the museum director and go have a drink with the police officers who helped find it,” explains Arthur Brand in this video:
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Robbed in the middle of the night
Dutch police video footage released shortly after the burglary showed a burglar smashing through a glass door at the museum near Amsterdam in the middle of the night, before fleeing with the painting hidden under his right arm.
In April 2021, police arrested a man, identified by Dutch media as Nils M. for the theft. He was later convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison. Nils M. was also convicted of stealing a Frans Hals masterpiece entitled “Two Young Men Laughing,” during another robbery.
“After a few months, I learned from a source in the criminal world the identity of the person who had bought the Van Gogh” from Nils M, said Arthur Brand, who became known thanks to his remarkable recoveries of stolen works of art, including bronze statues of “Hitler’s Horses”, a Picasso painting and a ring that belonged to Oscar Wilde.
>> Also read: The “Indiana Jones of the art world” finds a Picasso stolen 20 years ago
A Van Gogh against a reduction in prison sentence
The man was currently behind bars for a separate case involving the large-scale import and export of cocaine, the art detective said.
Dutch media identified the man as Peter Roy K., who was sentenced to twelve years in prison as the buyer, wanting to use the painting as collateral to negotiate a reduction in his sentence. Arthur Brand confirmed the identity of Peter Roy K., adding that he insisted there would be “no agreement for a reduced sentence.”
Table restored
The whereabouts of the Van Gogh painting were still unknown two weeks ago, when the detective was contacted by a man saying he wanted to return it. After a negotiation, Arthur Brand persuaded the man – who, according to the detective, had “nothing to do with the theft” – to return the work of art which dates from the beginning of Van Gogh’s career, before before the prolific artist embarked on his post-impressionist paintings like “Sunflowers” and his striking self-portraits.
“The man told me, ‘I want to return the Van Gogh. It caused me a lot of trouble,’ because it couldn’t be used as currency, the detective said. “Through an operation carried out in close coordination with the Dutch police, we recovered the painting,” he said.
The Van Gogh was returned to the director of the Groningen museum who had loaned it to the Singer Karen Museum. The painting “Two Young Men Laughing” by Frans Hals remains missing, but Arthur Brand has expressed hope that it will also be returned soon.
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