Italian police recover paintings by Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse after heist

Artworks valued at total of more than $10m were stolen from Magnani Rocca Foundation near Parma in March

Italian police have recovered three paintings by the French masters Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse that were stolen earlier this year from a private museum near the northern city of Parma, authorities have said.

The raid took place overnight on 22-23 March at the Magnani Rocca Foundation, about 12 miles (19km) from Parma, after a series of high-profile thefts from other European museums.

Police released footage showing two masked burglars entering through a window, grabbing the three paintings from the wall and immediately leaving the building, in an operation that took less than three minutes.

The recovered works are Cézanne’s Still Life with Cherries, which authorities said was valued at about $7m (£5.2m), Renoir’s Fish, valued at $3.5m, and Matisse’s Odalisque on the Terrace, valued at $23,000.

A statement from the Italian Carabinieri’s art recovery squad said the paintings were found during searches ordered by prosecutors, but gave no further details. The investigation is continuing.

On Thursday, civil police in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, said they had recovered eight Matisse illustrations that were stolen from a library on 7 December last year.

The works, created for the limited-edition art book Jazz and with a combined estimated value of about $200,000, had been stolen by two thieves who, on the final day of an exhibition, overpowered a security guard and an elderly couple visiting the library before fleeing on foot.

Police said they believed the theft had been ordered by Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira, 53, regarded as one of Brazil’s most prominent art thieves, who has been in custody since April after being arrested in connection with another case.

Police found the works at a home in São Bernardo do Campo, on the outskirts of São Paulo, and said they were in good condition.

Photographs released by officers showed the illustrations laid out on a bed beside a .32 revolver that police said belonged to João Paulo Linhares de Araújo, 44, who was at the property and was arrested. Police said he had been storing the Matisse works on behalf of people accused of involvement in the theft.

Three other people had previously been arrested in connection with the case.

The works were returned to the library on Thursday. During the robbery, the thieves also took five engravings by the Brazilian artist Candido Portinari, which have not yet been recovered. Police said they suspected they had been sold.