Thieves steal paintings worth £7.5million from Renoir museum in latest major heist in France

Two thieves broke into a museum dedicated to French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir in southern France on Tuesday, stealing art worth a total of £7.5million.'This morning, two individuals broke into the Renoir Museum and stole four works of art,' said Bryan Masson, the mayor of the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer.'Spotted thanks to the town's video surveillance cameras, the two individuals fled, abandoning one of the stolen paintings as they ran,' he said, adding his office estimated the value of the stolen works at 9 million euros (£7.5million).According to initial findings of the investigation, two people were also seen on CCTV cutting up several paintings, local media has reported.According to France Televisions, the painting found abandoned in the museum's garden is the Portrait of Madame Stephen Pichon.The three other paintings taken are reportedly Madame Colonna Romano, The Young Woman at the Well and the famous Coco Reading. The Renoir Museum was opened in 1960 in the painter's last home before his death in 1919.Its collection includes objects and furniture that belonged to Renoir, including his easel and wheelchair, as well as portraits, landscapes, and nudes painted by the artist. Police officers patrol in front of the entrance of the Musee Renoir after three paintings, valued at nine million euros, were stolen The theft comes less than a year after eight items valued at around £76million were stolen during a daylight robbery from the Louvre in Paris Carabinieri TPC art squad officers of the Parma Provincial Command posing with recovered valuable artworks by Paul Cezanne (L) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (R) and Henri MatisseThe mayor said it took just five minutes for the authorities to respond to the burglary.'The museum alarm went off at 5.48am. At 5.53am, just five minutes later, our municipal police were on the scene,' he said.The theft comes less than a year after eight items valued at around £76million were stolen during a daylight robbery from the Louvre in Paris.The four suspected Louvre robbers have been arrested, but the stolen items have still not been found despite extensive searches by French investigators in the Paris region and exchanges with police in Belgium, Italy and beyond.Since the Louvre robbery, France's Ministry of Culture has made museum security a priority.In July, a 33 measure plan was unveiled, recommending temporarily removing certain pieces from display cases.'The aim is to shelter the most vulnerable objects in suitable locations that will be identified for each department, pending the securing of their presentation,' the Ministry said in a statement.However, that same month, a gold necklace dating from the Celtic period and buried 2,500 years ago in Burgundy, was stolen in broad daylight from a museum in Chatillon-sur-Seine.Also in July, thieves stole an estimated 4.5million euros worth of jewelry from the Lalique museum in Wingen-sur-Moder.Just last month, paintings worth more than €9million (£7.7million) were recovered after being stolen in just three minutes by masked thieves from a museum in northern Italy.Videos showed the thieves sneaking into the Magnani-Rocca Foundation near Parma to steal the works by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse in just 180 seconds.They stole three paintings – Fish by Auguste Renoir, Still Life with Cherries by Paul Cezanne, and Odalisque on the Terrace by Henri Matisse – from the walls before bringing them back to the window and passing them to an accomplice outside.Fish is worth £2.6million, Still Life with Cherries £5.1million and Odalisque on the Terrace £17,000. After being stolen on March 22, the paintings have now been recovered, Italian police said.Italian police said they had arrested five Moldovans and found the paintings in the storeroom of a house in Parma.They had been stashed in the cardboard packaging of a flat-screen television.