Masters' works go missing

The caretaker of the residence discovered the break in whilst the owner was on Christmas vacation in Sweden.

Among the works reported missing are paintings by Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau, the latter being worth around one million euros.

Only the night before a drawing by French impressionist Edgar Degas had been taken from a museum in Marseille. The Cantini Museum had been loaned Les Choristes by the Musee d’Orsay in Paris for a temporary exhibition.

The small pastel, dating from 1876-77 and worth in the region of 800,000 euros, was found missing by a security guard when the museum opened on the Thursday morning.

The state prosecutor, Jacques Dallest, said that the painting had been unscrewed rather than ripped from the wall, which suggests a degree of organisation although “it’s not necessarily the work of a great professional either.”

Police in Marseille are now working with France’s Central Office for the Fight against Traffic in Cultural Goods to solve both crimes and at the moment there is no indication that the two incidents are linked.

HM