Renoir paintings stolen from Riviera museum recovered, six people arrested

Two Renoir paintings ​worth millions of dollars that ​were stolen from a ‌museum on ​the French Riviera a month ago have been recovered and six suspects have been ‌arrested, the local mayor said on Friday. Thieves had broken into the grounds of the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer early in the morning ‌of September 8 through a hole cut in a garden ‌fence and entered through a window.

The two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, an Impressionist whose works have fetched tens of millions of dollars at auction, were "Madame ⁠Colonna ​Romano" and "Young Woman ⁠at the Well". Both belong to Paris' Orsay Museum and were on ⁠loan. "This news is a source of immense joy and a great ​relief for the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer and its residents," mayor ⁠Bryan Masson said in a statement.

The Marseille public prosecutor's office did not immediately respond ⁠to ​questions about how the paintings had been recovered, but the mayor scheduled a press conference for 5 p.m. (1500 GMT). The thieves ⁠had also snatched two other paintings, "Madame Pichon" and "Coco Reading", a portrayal of ⁠Claude, Renoir's young ⁠son. But they dropped them in the gardens as police, alerted by alarms, arrived and gave ‌chase.