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Stolen Matisse Recovered by FBI in Miami

22 July 2012
  • Matisse's 1925 painting, “Odalisque in Red Pants" was stolen from a Venezuelan museum and replaced by a forgery in 2002. The original has been recovered by FBI in Miami.

    Matisse's 1925 painting, “Odalisque in Red Pants" was stolen from a Venezuelan museum and replaced by a forgery in 2002. The original has been recovered by FBI in Miami.

A painting by Henri Matisse stolen from a Venezuelan art museum in 2002 was recovered during a FBI sting at a Miami Beach hotel.

Valued at $3 million, Matisse's "Odalisque in Red Pants" turned up when undercover FBI agents went to purchase the painting from Pedro Antonio Marcuello Guzman, 46, of Miami, and Maria Martha Elisa Ornelas Lazo, 50, of Mexico City, CNN reports.

The sellers are charged with transporting and possessing stolen property.

They had asked $1.5 million for the pilfered artwork.

 

Read more at Reuters
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