On Friday, Christ Church Art Gallery, Oxford, together with the Thames Valley Police, announced the recovery of one of three paintings stolen in March of 2020 from the famous campus.
Salvator Rosa’s A Rocky Coast, with Soldiers Studying a Plan was taken in a daring overnight heist on the very evening that the university went into lockdown due to COVID-19.
The methodology of the heist seemed to hint towards some complicity on the part of insiders at the storied university. It remains unclear as to who exactly stole the paintings. Romania is known by international authorities to be a hotbed for the fencing of valuable stolen property.
The news release issued by the Thames Valley Police indicates that the Rosa painting was recovered when a man in Romania contacted authorities there to turn it in. The Romanian man claims to have bought it unaware of its status and is being treated as a witness.
The police and the art gallery have issued a plea for the return of the two paintings that remain missing, Sir Anthony van Dyck’s A Soldier on Horseback dating from circa 1617 and A Boy Drinking by Annibale Carracci dating from around 1580, both of which have been on display since 1768 at Christ Church.
Thames Valley Police cited the good assistance from Eurojust and Europol. They added that the Rosa painting bore useful DNA evidence that they hope will lead to the other two works.
The art gallery and police urge anyone with information about the theft or the whereabouts of the van Dyck and Carracci paintings to come forward and contact them on 101 in the UK or using the online form, quoting reference 43200087031.
If you do not wish to speak to the police you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.