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Swiss police find stolen paintings
Authorities recover two of the works taken in one of Europe's largest art robberies.
Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 19:26 GMT
Lukas Gloor, Buehrle museum director, in front of the two recovered paintings in Zurich [EPA]


Swiss police have recovered two stolen paintings - one by Monet and one by van Gogh - that were part of four stolen from a gallery in Zurich last week.
 
Police found the works of art, estimated to be worth 70 million Swiss Francs ($64m) in the back seat of a car parked at a psychiatric hospital in the city, authorities said on Tuesday.
The paintings were said to be in good condition, with their glass covering still intact.
 
"Poppies near Vetheuil" (1879) by Claude Monet, and "Blossoming Chestnut Branch" (1890) by van Gogh, were identified by Lukas Gloor, the director of the Buehrle Museum from where they were taken last Sunday.
The hunt is still on for the other two paintings - "Count Lepic and his Daughters" (1871) by Edgar Degas and "Boy in a Red Waistcoat" (1888) by Paul Cezanne.
 
The police were alerted when an employee of the psychiatric hospital noticed a white car that had been left in the car park.
 
The car had Zurich number plates but these turned out to have been stolen from another vehicle earlier in the month, police said.
 
The four impressionist masterpieces were stolen from Zurich's Emil Buehrle museum on February 10, when three masked men entered the museum and threatened staff with a pistol before making off in a car.
 
The theft was one of the largest art robberies carried out in Europe in the last two decades.
Source:
Agencies
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