The Dutch press was able to admire a painting by Vincent Van Gogh on Wednesday that had been missing for more than three years. Stolen during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was given to an art detective in an Ikea bag.
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The Nuenen Presbytery Garden in spring, by Vincent Van Gogh from 1884, estimated to be worth between 3 and 6 million euros, was presented to the media at a museum in Rotterdam on Wednesday, February 7th. He had been missing for more than three years. Stolen during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was given to an art detective in an Ikea bag.
Damage to the painting caused by theft is still visible. Of particular note is a white scratch on the underside of the canvas, a “Significant damage”says Marjan de Visser, restorer of the work. “It goes through all the layers, the varnish, the paint layers and then the base coat, which is white.” The latter told -. “The original canvas is underneath, which is also slightly damaged.” She continued, adding that the damage was likely due to the painting being hit by something hard.
The restorer conducts an in-depth examination of the painting, examining the materials used, previous restorations, and the painting. Marjan de Visser has already cleaned the dirt that covered the painting and started to remove some of the varnish, preparatory steps for the actual restoration of the work.
Three years of disappearance
Wednesday’s exhibition was for the media only, but the public can view the painting from March 29 at the museum in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands. The work was stolen in a middle-of-the-night robbery in March 2020 while in confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was then exhibited at the Singer Laren Museum near Amsterdam.
Video footage released by Dutch police shortly after the theft showed a burglar breaking open a glass door to the museum and then fleeing with the painting hidden under his right arm. The work remained missing for three and a half years before it spectacularly resurfaced. It was given to Arthur Brand, an art detective nicknamed “the Indiana Jones of the art world” for finding traces of several missing major works. A man, whose identity was not released, returned the painting to Arthur Brand in a blue Ikea bag, inside a pillowcase and wrapped in bubble wrap.
