The Louvre museum in Paris has announced the recovery of a set of Renaissance-era gold and silver armor – almost 40 years after it was stolen.
An expert in military antiquities alerted the police after being called in to advise on an inheritance in Bordeaux in January and to suspect the luxurious helmet and body armor of the family’s collection.
The police subsequently identified items from a database of stolen works of art as having been removed from the Louvre on May 31, 1983, in circumstances that remain a mystery.
Bordeaux prosecutors are investigating how they ended up on the family’s property.
The armor and helmet are believed to have been made in Milan between 1560 and 1580. They were donated to the Louvre in 1922 by the Rothschild family.
“I was sure that one day we would see them reappear, because they are such unique objects. But I could never imagine that it would work so well – that they would be in France and still together, ”said Philippe Malgouyres, the head of Louvre heritage art, on Wednesday.
“They are prestigious weapons, made with virtuosity, kind of the equivalent of a luxury car today. In the 16th century, weapons became very luxurious works of art. The armor became an ornament that had nothing to do with its use, ”he said.
There are 100,000 objects in France’s database of stolen works of art worldwide, with 900 added just last year.
According to Jean-Luc Martinez, chief executive of the Louvre, the last robbery of the most visited museum in the world was in 1998, a portrait of 19th-century French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
“We are still looking for that,” said Martinez.