A shadowy series of events has brought back a stolen early painting by Vincent Van Gogh, missing for three years. The painting shows part of a parsonage garden in Neunen, the Netherlands, where the painter's father was the parson.
'Art detective' Arthur Brand told Dutch press that he had gotten the stolen painting through underworld contacts, with the knowledge of the police. A man believed to have been the thief has been in jail but has not revealed the location of the painting or another, by Frans Hals.
The director of the Groningen Museum, which owns the Van Gogh, says the painting is slightly damaged but can be repaired. Brand says he came close to recovering it two years ago, but gangs he was negotiating with backed out.
In the end, he said, “It was a headache not just for the police and justice department, but for those involved in the criminal circuit,” he said. “The Van Gogh was just too hot.”
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