Thieves have made off with a painting by 18th century Spanish master Francisco de Goya after intercepting the canvas en route to New York for a special exhibition opening on Friday, officials said.
“Children with a Cart,” a 1778 painting on loan from the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, went missing in Pennsylvania, short of its intended destination at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, the two galleries said in a statement.
They did not explain how the canvas was transported, saying only it was in the care of a professional art transportation firm when it went missing.
A reward of up to 50,000 dollars is being offered by the insurers for information leading to the painting’s recovery, the statement said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading the probe into the theft.
The painting is insured for just over one million dollars and “would be virtually impossible to sell and therefore has no value on the open market,” the museums said.
“To maintain the integrity of the FBI investigation, the museums are unable to provide any additional details at this time,” they added.
Reports said the theft occurred on Friday, while neither the FBI nor museums would comment on the timing of the heist.
FBI sources were quoted in reports as saying they would release more details of their investigation later in the week pending current inquiries.
Goya painted 63 so-called tapestry cartoons, such as the one stolen, between 1775 and 1792. The one stolen is a design for an over-door tapestry and depicts four children playing musical instruments in the shade of a tree.
It was the first time the Toledo museum has suffered the theft of one of its works, some 15 to 20 of which are usually on loan at any time.
The museum said it had no intention of changing its loans policy, describing the theft as a random incident.
The work was to have been part of the Guggenheim’s “Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth and History” exhibition featuring 135 paintings from the 16th to the mid-20th century.
Other artists represented include Diego Velazquez, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Salvador Dali, with works being loaned by private collectors and museums in both Europe and North America.
Selling such a major work could prove a headache for the thieves and it could be a long time before the painting is recovered, if indeed it ever is.
Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” was stolen two years ago in a daring daylight heist on an Oslo museum. It took two years for the painting to be recovered in circumstances still shrouded in mystery.
Goya painting stolen en route to New York exhibition
