Stolen paintings worth €1.4m turn up at auction, 13 years later

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Five paintings, including one by Dutch master Jan Steen, which were stolen from a house in Bilthoven, near Utrecht, 13 years ago have turned up at an art auction, news agency ANP reports.

Sharp-eyed staff at Christie's auction house realised the paintings were stolen when they were put up for sale in January and called the police. Three people have since been arrested, two in the Netherlands and one in Germany

The paintings were taken from a private house in 1999, where an 84-year-old woman lived alone. She had left the door unlocked because she was expecting visitors.

At the time of the theft, the works of art were valued at a combined three million guilders. Two paintings stolen at the same time are still missing.

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