FBI recovers stolen Marc Chagall painting 30 years after heist

A long-lost Marc Chagall painting, stolen almost 30 years ago, has been recovered from the attic of a man connected to Bulgarian organized crime, according to new court filings.

The artwork “Othello and Desdemona,” which was taken from a New York apartment during a heist in 1988, was retrieved in Maryland by the FBI’s Art Crime Team after the man himself alerted investigators to its whereabouts.

Depicting characters from Shakespeare’s “Othello,” the 1911 painting was one of a number of artworks stolen from the Manhattan home of Ernest and Rose Heller, art collectors who have since passed away. According to news reports from the time, the couple also lost jewelry, sculptures, silverware and carpets in the heist. It was “a lifetime of collecting,” Ernest told UPI news agency after the robbery.

The artwork "Othello and Desdemona," which was taken from a New York apartment during a heist in 1988. A label, found on the back of the painting, says that artwork was exhibited at the Kunsthaus Zurich museum in Switzerland

“It was an inside job,” said Art Crime Team investigator Marc Hess, in an FBI news release. “A person who had regular access to the building was stealing from apartments while the tenants were away.”

Court documents suggest that the Maryland man was not behind the robbery, but that he acquired the painting in Virginia in the late 1980s or early 1990s. It is believed the thief approached him in the hopes of using his connections to criminal organizations in Bulgaria to help sell the artwork.

The recovered "Othello and Desdemona" was created during the early part of Chagall's career.

After finding a potential buyer, the man discovered that the thief intended to cut him out of the deal, so he kept the painting, court papers say. It was then stored in an attic for almost three decades in a homemade wooden box marked “Misc. High School artwork.”

It is understood that the man attempted, on more than one occasion, to sell the painting to a Washington, D.C. gallery. Suspicious of the lack of authentication documents, the gallery’s owner suggested that the seller call law enforcement.

According to the New York Times, the Maryland man is 72 and suffering from a terminal illness. The paper quotes Hess as saying that the decision to involve the FBI was “partially motivated by his imminent demise.”

Painting set for auction

Chagall, a Franco-Russian artist of Belarusian heritage, is considered to be a pioneer of the modernist movement. His paintings have previously attracted large sums at auction, with the 1928 work “Les Amoureux” selling for more than $28 million last year – an auction record for the artist.

The recovered “Othello and Desdemona,” which was created during the early part of Chagall’s career, is expected to sell for significantly less. Nonetheless, preliminary estimates place the artwork’s value between $700,000 and $900,000, according to Christopher Marinello of Art Recovery International, the firm representing the insurance company that paid out on the initial theft.

The "Apollo and Venus" painting by 16th-century Dutch master Otto van Veen (1556-1629) was discovered in the closet of an art gallery in Iowa, and is likely worth over $4 million.

Scroll through the gallery for other examples of lost and found artworks.

One of a triptych of artworks created by Ben Enwonwu during the aftermath of Nigeria's bloody civil war, "Tutu" disappeared shortly after being painted in 1974. Its whereabouts remained the subject of intense speculation for over 40 years before the portrait was discovered in a family home late last year. In March, it sold for over $1.6 million (£1,205,000).

"Two Hacks" (1789) by George Stubbs was sold at a Christie's "Living with Art" sale in New York in June 2016 -- originally listed as a copy. Art dealer Archie Parker -- believing it to be a real Stubbs -- purchased the painting for $175,000 ($215,000 with premium). The painting is currently hanging on his stand at the annual British Antique Dealers' Association (BADA) Fair in London, with an asking price of $900,000.

Rembrandt's drawing of a dog has been in the collection of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig, Germany, since 1770, but was long thought to be the work of a different artist.

In 2016, a drawing attributed to Italian master Leonardo da Vinci was discovered in Paris, after a portfolio of works was brought to Tajan auction house for valuation by a retired doctor. It was valued at 15 million euros ($16 million).

The drawing also features sketches of light and shadows and notes on the back.

While researching for an episode of BBC's "Britain's Lost Masterpieces" series at the National Trust for Scotland's Haddo House collection in Aberdeenshire, art historian Bendor Grosvenor and a team of experts found a painting that could have been painted by artist Raphael.

In April 2016, a painting believed to be by Caravaggio was found in an attic in France. Experts said it could be worth $136 million.

The work was originally purchased for $25 dollars at the end of the 19th century. It could now be worth $26 million.

In 1911, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre by an Italian who had been a handyman for the museum. The famous painting was recovered two years later.

A statue called "Young Girl with Serpent" by Auguste Rodin was stolen from a home in Beverly Hills, California, in 1991. It was returned after someone offered it on consignment to Christie's auction house. Rodin, a French sculptor considered by some aficionados to have been the father of modern sculpture, lived from 1840 until 1917. His most famous work, "The Thinker," shows a seated man with his chin on his hand.

Picasso's "La Coiffeuse" ("The Hairdresser") was discovered missing in 2001 and was recovered when it was shipped from Belgium to the United States in December 2014. The shipper said it was a $37 piece of art being sent to the United States as a Christmas present. The feds say it was actually a stolen Picasso, missing for more than a decade and worth millions of dollars.

Italy's Culture Ministry unveils two paintings by the French artists Paul Gauguin and Pierre Bonnard on April 2, 2014. The paintings, worth millions of euros, were stolen from a family house in London in 1970, abandoned on a train and then later sold at a lost-property auction, where a factory worker paid 45,000 Italian lire for them -- roughly equivalent to 22 euros ($30).

A Renoir painting finished in the 1800s, loaned to a museum, reported stolen in 1951 and then bought at a flea market in 2010 has to be returned to the museum, a judge ruled on January 10, 2014. The 5½-by-9-inch painting, titled "Landscape on the Banks of the Seine," was bought for $7 at a flea market by a Virginia woman. The estimated value is between $75,000 and $100,000.

Seven famous paintings were stolen from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 2012, including Claude Monet's "Charing Cross Bridge, London." The paintings, in oil and watercolor, include Pablo Picasso's "Harlequin Head," Henri Matisse's "Reading Girl in White and Yellow," Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed" and Claude Monet's "Waterloo Bridge," seen here. Works by Gauguin and Meyer de Haan were also taken.

Eight months after Salvador Dali's "Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio" was stolen in a New York gallery, a Greek national was indicted on a grand larceny charge in 2013.

In 1473, Hans Memling's "The Last Judgment" was stolen by pirates and became the first documented art theft.

Adam Worth, the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's diabolical character Moriarty, stole "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire," painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1876.

Among their many crimes, the Nazis plundered precious artworks as they gained power during World War II. "Adele Bloch-Bauer I," by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, was confiscated from the owner when he fled from Austria.

Many works of art that were taken by the Nazis were never recovered. Others were returned after years of legal battles. "Christ Carrying the Cross," by Italian artist Girolamo de' Romani, was returned to his family in 2012.

"The Scream" was one of two Edvard Munch paintings that were stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, in 2004.

In 2007, Pablo Picasso's oil painting ''Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" was taken from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art. It was recovered two years later.

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“We really need to assess the condition of the work,” he said in a phone interview. “It looks a little bit roughed up (in photos) but it’s still in much, much better shape than we expected.

“It’s clearly an early work, and I don’t want to disparage the painting in any way, but it’s not my favorite. But I’m sure – given that it has such an incredible provenance and incredible history – that it will find a happy home.”

Federal prosecutors are now set to return the painting to the Heller family. After being assessed by the Chagall Committee, the organization that controls the artist’s estate, the painting will then be auctioned off, Marinello said. Some of the proceeds are expected to go to the insurance company – which, at the time of the theft, paid approximately $100,000 to the victims – as well as to non-profit groups supported by the family’s estate.

With the statute of limitations now expired, no charges are expected against the thief or the Maryland man, neither of whom are named in court filings. The man suspected of stealing the painting has already been convicted of crimes “related to the theft and sale of other works of art stolen from other apartment buildings,” according to court documents.

Personnel from the FBI's Art Crime Team handling the recovered Chagall painting, "Othello and Desdemona."

“As the FBI returns this painting to the estate of its proper owners, we do so with the purpose of preserving history,” said bureau official Nancy McNamara, in a Department of Justice news statement. “This piece of artwork is of significance not just for its monetary value, but for its place in the world of art and culture.”

Marinello commended the FBI and US Attorney’s Office for pursuing the case beyond the statute of limitations.

“Obviously law enforcement agencies like to get arrests, and that’s not always possible in a 30-year-old case, which is why many (of them) dismiss these very cold cases,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still victims.

“For the FBI and the Justice Department to aid those victims 30 years later is just astounding. And it sends a very clear message to criminals everywhere that you can’t relax and rest if you’re in possession of stolen works of art.”