The Boy in the Red Vest

The Boy in the Red Vest (also known as The Boy in the Red Waistcoat) [1] is an 1894/95[2] painting (Venturi 681) by Paul Cézanne. It depicts a boy in traditional Italian attire. On February 10, 2008, the painting was stolen from Foundation E.G. Bührle in Zürich, Switzerland.[3] It was the museum's most valuable painting and is valued at $91 million.[4] The painting stolen from Zurich was recovered in Serbia on April 12, 2012[5] 4 versions of the painting exist. From the New York Times: 2 Paintings Stolen From Zurich Museum Didn’t Get Far (Feb 21, 2008)

ZURICH (AP) — A frantic search for four stolen Impressionist paintings led to a most unlikely place: the parking lot of a mental hospital just a few hundred yards from the scene of the crime. There, in the back seat of an unlocked car, a painting by Monet and another by van Gogh were found Monday in perfect condition, the authorities said Tuesday. The paintings, together worth $64 million, were still under the display glass used by the private museum from which they were stolen in a Feb. 10 armed robbery, director Lukas Gloor said. “I am incredibly relieved that two paintings have returned,” Mr. Gloor said. “We’re very happy that both the paintings are in absolutely impeccable shape.” The other paintings taken from the from the E. G. Bührle Collection — by Cézanne and Degas — remain missing, the police said. In all, the four paintings are worth an estimated $163 million. Art experts have suggested that the robbers took advantage of what appeared to be an easy target — a low-security museum — without knowing much about art or how difficult it can be to sell such well-known works. The robbers took the first four paintings they came across when they raided the museum shortly before closing on a Sunday afternoon. Although they managed to take the most valuable painting in the collection, Cézanne’s “Boy in a Red Vest,” they passed over the second most valuable picture, another Cézanne. Mr. Gloor said he suspected that the robbers abandoned the two paintings, which were the largest of the four, because their size complicated transporting them. They were discovered Monday in the back seat of a white sedan in a parking lot in front of the University Psychiatric Clinic. It was not known how long the car had been there, the police said. An employee of the clinic making a check of the lot noted the car because it was unlocked. The police sealed off the area, examined the car and hauled it away. The police had said initially that a white vehicle might have been used by the three robbers when they made their escape. The clinic is about 500 yards from the museum. The recovered paintings — Monet’s “Poppies Near Vétheuil” and van Gogh’s “Blossoming Chestnut Branches” — will be returned to the museum in the coming days, Mr. Gloor said. “But we must not forget,” he added, “that two more paintings of our collection are still missing,” including the “Boy in a Red Vest,” which is worth $91 million.

From The Guardian: Cezanne masterpiece believed recovered by Serbian police Police in Serbia believe they have recovered an impressionist masterpiece by Paul Cezanne worth at least £68m that was stolen at gunpoint in one of the world's biggest art heists four years ago, a police official has said. "We believe the painting is Cezanne's Boy in a Red Waistcoat and three suspects were detained in connection with that," said a police official. "Experts in Serbia and abroad are trying to ascertain whether the painting is an original. This painting is worth tens of millions of euros," the official added. The canvas was one of four paintings stolen from a Swiss art gallery in 2008 by a trio of masked robbers who burst in just before closing time and told staff to lay on the floor. The paintings were reportedly worth over £100m at the time and the heist was the biggest art theft in Swiss history and one of the largest in the world. The painting was stolen in 2008 from the Emil Georg Bührle gallery in Zurich, a private collection founded by a second world war arms dealer and entrepreneur. Two of the stolen canvasses, one by Claude Monet and the other by Vincent van Gogh, were recovered days later abandoned in a car, but the other two – the Cezanne and a painting by Edgar Degas, have been missing for the last four years. Cezanne's Boy in a Red Waistcoat is thought to have been painted around 1888 and depicts a boy in traditional Italian dress – a red waistcoat, a blue handkerchief and a blue belt. Three other versions of the painting are in museums in the United States. Last October, Serbian police recovered two paintings by Pablo Picasso stolen in 2008 from a gallery in the Swiss town of Pfäffikon, near Zurich. The police official said law enforcement agencies from several countries had co-operated in the investigation that led to the apparent recovery of the Cezanne masterpiece. Serbia's state prosecutor is expected to issue a statement or give a press briefing on the case later on Thursday.