A 17th-century painting stolen from an art gallery at the University of Oxford more than four years ago was recently recovered in Romania, according to BBC news.
Salvator Rosa’s Baroque landscape, titled “A Rocky Coast, with Soldiers Studying a Plan,” was taken from the Christ Church Picture Gallery on March 14, 2020. The two other artworks stolen that day, Anthony van Dyck’s “A Soldier on Horseback” (ca. 1617) and Annibale Carracci’s “A Boy Drinking” (ca. 1580), remain missing. These valuable pieces had been on display at the religious institution since 1768.
The combined estimated value of all three artworks is nearly $12.4 million (£10 million).
According to the gallery, a man who had possession of Salvator Rosa’s oil landscape contacted Romanian police. Although he had sold the other two artworks, he chose to voluntarily return “A Rocky Coast, with Soldiers Studying a Plan” to authorities. Currently, the man is being treated as a witness by Romanian authorities and has not been arrested.
“We’re grateful to the Romanian authorities and Thames Valley Police for their help in retrieving this priceless work and returning it to our gallery,” stated Jacqueline Thalmann, curator of the Christ Church Picture Gallery.
Thalmann emphasized the significance of the paintings, describing them as a crucial part of the gallery’s collection and of “inestimable” value to British and European culture.
Investigators are collaborating with Romanian judiciary, police, as well as the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) to gather additional information.
