A 17th-century Italian landscape by Salvator Rosa that was stolen from the Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford four years ago has been discovered in Romania and returned, the museum said.
A Rocky Coast, with Soldiers Studying a Plan, dating from the 1640s, was handed in to the Romanian authorities and recovered by officers from Thames Valley Police and the museum’s curator, Jacqueline Thalmann, the museum said in a press release. In a video statement, Thalmann said the painting was in “surprisingly good condition after the ordeal that it went through”.
Police are appealing for information about two other paintings stolen in the same burglary on 14 March 2020, the release said. These are Anthony van Dyck’s A Soldier on Horseback (c. 1617) and Annibale Carracci’s A Boy Drinking (c. 1580). The three works together had an estimated value of £10 million and had been on public view since 1768, according to the museum.
A man in possession of the Rosa painting contacted the Romanian police to return it. “Unfortunately, he’d already sold on the other two paintings not realising their significance,” Detective Chief Inspector James Mather said. They could now be “anywhere in Europe,” he said.
“We are working with the Romanian judiciary and police, as well as Eurojust and Europol, to gather further intelligence,” Mather said. Part of the investigation includes detailed forensic analysis of the returned painting, he said.
