Serb police find painting believed stolen Cezanne

[April 12, 2012]  BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- Serbian police have uncovered a painting believed to be by French impressionist Paul Cezanne, which was stolen from a private Swiss museum in 2008 in one of the biggest art thefts in Europe at the time.

Police did not name the painting, but Serbian media said it is likely "The Boy in the Red Vest" stolen from E. G. Buhrle Collection in Zurich along with three other masterpieces by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Edgar Degas.

Monet's "Poppy field at Vetheuil" and van Gogh's "Blooming Chestnut Branches" were discovered undamaged in a car parked at a mental hospital in Zurich soon after the robbery. The heist was conducted by three armed and masked men who witnesses said spoke German with a Slavic accent.

Serbian police arrested three people overnight in connection with the robbery. They said police raids and the arrests in the capital of Belgrade and in the central city of Cacak were conducted in coordination with police from several European countries.

One police official, who could not be identified under standing rules, said an art expert was being flown in from abroad to confirm the authenticity of the painting.

Art experts have suggested the robbers took advantage of a low-security museum without knowing about the paintings or how difficult it can be to sell such well-known stolen art works.

Cezanne's painting alone was worth 100 million Swiss francs ($110 million, euro84 million) when it was stolen. The other painting still missing is Degas' "Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter," worth about 10 million francs ($11 million, euro8 million)).

The robbers took the first four paintings they reached when they raided the museum shortly before closing time on a Sunday. Although the most valuable painting was among the ones they took, they left behind the second most precious picture in the room, Cezanne's "Self Portrait with Palette," insured for 90 million francs ($98 million, euro75 million.

[Associated Press; By DUSAN STOJANOVIC]

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