‘Indiana Jones of art world’ recovers stolen Van Gogh painting
A Dutch art detective recovered a precious Vincent van Gogh painting that was stolen from a museum in a midnight heist during the coronavirus lockdown three and a half years ago, police said.
Arthur Brand took possession of the missing painting, ‘The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring’, painted in 1884 and worth €3m-€6m (£2.6m-£5.2m), at his Amsterdam home on Monday, stuffed in a blue Ikea bag, the Guardian wrote. Brand, known as the “Indiana Jones of the art world” for tracing a series of high-profile lost artworks, told AFP that confirming the painting was the stolen Van Gogh was “one of the greatest moments of my life”. Brand told AFP that frequent calls by him and the Dutch police to hand back the stolen artwork finally paid off when a man, whose identity was not revealed for his own safety, handed Brand the painting in a blue Ikea bag, covered with bubblewrap and stuffed in a pillow casing.
A video clip supplied by Brand showed him unpacking the painting in his lounge and gasping in astonishment when he realised what it was. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said. The painting was taken from the Singer Laren Museum near Amsterdam on 30 March 2020 in a heist that made headlines around the world.
In April 2021, police arrested a man named in Dutch media as Nils M for the theft. He was later convicted and sentenced to eight years behind bars. He was also convicted for stealing another masterpiece, by Frans Hals, called ‘Two Laughing Boys’ in a separate burglary.
“After a few months I heard from a source in the criminal world who had bought the Van Gogh,” said Brand, who has gained fame for his remarkable recoveries of stolen art, including the “Hitler’s Horses” bronze statues, a Picasso painting and a ring that once belonged to Oscar Wilde. This man, identified by Dutch media as Peter Roy K, was behind bars for a separate case involving the large-scale import and export of cocaine, Brand said.