The French judiciary has returned a painting by the Impressionist painter Paul Signac to the Nancy Museum in eastern France after it was stolen from it in May 2018 and it was found about a year later in Ukraine.
The Prosecutor General of the Republic in the city, Francois Piran, said that the investigation enabled the identification of four Ukrainians who were suspected of stealing four paintings in France.
The repetition of Friday´s painting, titled "Port of La Rochelle", shows us at the entrance to the port of La Rochelle in France. It is valued at 1.5 million euros.
Experts had confirmed the original character of this 1915 oil painting signed by the teacher of pointing current, after Ukrainian police found it in Kiev.
The French judiciary imposed a seizure on the painting since its return to French lands. It will regain its place in the Museum of Fine Arts in Nancy after its restoration, according to Beran.
During the robbery, the painting, 55 cm long and 46 cm wide, was cut to separate from the frame, which was left in place by the thief, who was described as a professional at cutting.
The Ukrainian police had recovered the painting from the house of a man also suspected of involvement in the murder of a jeweler, according to Ukrainian police chief Sergey Kazyanev.
The other three paintings stolen in France, by the painters Pierre Auguste Renoir, Eugene Boudin and Eugène Gallien-Lallou, were stolen during exhibitions held in preparation for public auctions, and the paintings were placed in bags, according to the public prosecutor of the republic in Nancy. Only a Senniac has been carved from inside the frame.
A man described as the head of the gang was arrested in Austria after another theft, and he is imprisoned in France, according to Piran, who indicated that another member of the gang was imprisoned in Ukraine, while the others are still in hiding and the search for them continues.
