Two paintings attributed to European masters Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall have been found by local Belgian police inside the basement of an Antwerp house, both of which were stolen from an Israel-based art collector 14 years prior, as reported by Reuters.
A Breakthrough in the 14-Year-Old Tel Aviv Art Theft Case
The rare pieces, Picasso's cubist portrait dubbed "Tête" and Chagall's "L'homme en prière" or "The Praying Man," were looted from a Herzikovich-owned estate in Tel Aviv back in February 2010.
Around the time of the incident, the two artworks were estimated at a value of $900,000, or £710,000. Alongside the paintings, the family also suffered the loss of pieces of jewelry that are collectively worth $680,000 and, to date, have still not been tracked down.
The police involved with the case made a breakthrough after they received a substantial tip that two paintings, which fit the description of the missing ones from Tel Aviv, were being offered for sale by an art dealer that was based in the Wallon Region's capital city of Namur.
Using this information, the authorities launched a several-month-long covert operation that led them to a lead suspect they only referred to as "Daniel Z," a 68-year-old Israeli luxury watch merchant.
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Missing Picasso and Chagall Paintings Found at Last
At the request of the case prosecutor, the Belgian police launched a raid to search out the suspect's house last week which yielded a sizeable amount of money without any signs of the paintings.
In a statement to the Belgian publication Le Soir, police officials said: "The checks and police resources implemented during 2023 made it possible to establish that the suspect had the works sought and that he could have them at his home or the home of one of his relations."
"Although confessing to possessing the paintings, the suspect refused to communicate where he had stored them," they added.
To close in on the locations of the paintings, the investigators widened their search area to include the city of Antwerp, especially a building that was previously linked with different cases involving stolen art.
There, they found two wooden crates with lids that are sealed close using screws, which they eventually opened to confirm that it is indeed where the stolen Picasso and Chagall paintings were held.
According to the authorities, the artworks were undamaged and were still inside the frames they were put in before the incident. Consequently, the lead suspect was then arrested for possessing the two stolen artworks.
