Two paintings by Auguste Renoir, stolen last month from a museum in the south of France, have been recovered, according to the local town hall. The works, Jeune fille au puits and Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano, were seized on September 8 after thieves cut through a fence and smashed a window at the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where Renoir lived during his final years.

Recovery and Arrests

The local mayor praised the authorities for recovering the paintings, stating that the news brought immense joy and profound relief. Six suspects have been arrested in connection with the heist at the Renoir Museum, as confirmed in a statement from the town hall.

The theft was part of a troubling trend of high-profile art heists in Europe. The two missing paintings were the Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano (1910) and Jeune fille au puits (1886). The thieves had initially made off with four paintings but dropped two of them in the museum's garden as they fled.