Two Renoir paintings stolen from French museum are recovered

Two paintings by Auguste Renoir stolen a month ago from a museum in the south of France have been recovered, the local town hall has said.

The two works were seized on 8 September when thieves cut through a fence and smashed a window at the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where the French impressionist had lived during his final years.

The local mayor praised authorities for recovering the paintings and said the news gave immense joy and profound relief.

Six suspects have also been arrested in relation with the heist at Renoir Museum, the town hall confirmed in a statement.

The theft was the latest in a series of high-profile art heists in Europe.

The two missing paintings were the Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano (1910) and Jeune fille au puits (1886).

The thieves had used an electric saw to cut through the frame mountings inside the museum and had initially made off with four paintings, but dropped two of them in the museum's garden as they fled

"These two paintings are far more than works of art. They are part of our city's history, our cultural heritage and the legacy Auguste Renoir left to Cagnes-sur-Mer," said Mayor Bryan Masson, who is part of France's National Rally.

Further details of their recovery were due to be revealed later on Friday.

The Renoir Museum is home to 12 of the famous painter's artworks.

Opened in 1960, it houses a variety of objects that once belonged to him, including his easel and wheelchair, as well as photographs and personal letters.

Earlier this year paintings by Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse were stolen from a museum near the Italian city of Parma, in a raid that lasted just three minutes. They were recovered in August.

France saw its biggest art robbery in years last October, when crown jewels were stolen in broad daylight from the Louvre in Paris.

Disguised as construction workers, the thieves broke into the Louvre's first-floor Apollo Gallery during the museum's opening hours.

They used an angle-grinder to open display cases and made off with €88m (£78m) of jewels that once belonged to France's 19th-Century queens and empresses.

The Louvre was subsequently criticised for under-investing in security.