A Dutch detective believes he has “proof of life” of a Van Gogh painting stolen during lockdown.
Van Gogh’s Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, was photographed alongside a copy of The New York Times, published on the day of the painting’s theft. The photograph was passed on to the police by renowned art detective Arthur Brand, who said the photographs had been “circulating in mafia circles”. He declined to identify his source.
According to Brand: “There is no doubt in my mind that this is the genuine article. It could simply be that they are trying to find a buyer in the criminal underworld.”
A spokesperson said that the photographs were now “part of the investigation” for the Dutch police.
The masterpiece, valued at £5 million, was stolen in the wee hours of 30 March. A thief used a sledgehammer to smash the glass door at the Singer Laren museum, which was shut as a result of the pandemic.
At the time of the theft, Jan Rudolph de Lorm, director of the Singer Laren museum said he was “incredibly pissed off” at the theft. The piece was on loan from the Groninger Museum.
It is not the first time the museum has been subject to art thieves, with seven statues stolen in 2007 to the value of €1.3 million. The cast of Rodin’s The Thinker was later fund, and the two thieves responsible were sentenced to four years in jail.
