A Van Gogh painting stolen in 2020 from a museum in The Netherlands which had been closed due to the Covid 19 pandemic has been recovered. The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring had been in the collection of The Groninger Museum in Groningen from 1962. In 2020 was on loan to the Singer Laren Museum in Laren, south east of Amsterdam.
Dutch art detective Arthur Brand was handed the 139-year-old painting in a pillow and an Ikea bag by a man who came to his front door. “I did this in complete co-ordination with Dutch police and we knew this guy wasn’t involved in the theft,” he said. in 2021 a career art thief was jailed for eight years over the incident. The painting had already changed hands at that stage.
The French-born thief, 59-year-old Nils M, who lived a short distance away from Laren, was convicted of stealing the work as well as a Frans Hals painting a few months later from a museum in Leerdam, near Utrecht. His DNA was found at both crime scenes. Dutch police say the painting was acquired by a crime group intending to use it in exchange for shorter jail terms.
Van Gogh lived with his parents in the parsonage of the Dutch Reformed Church at Nuenen near Eindhoven in December 1883 where his father was pastor. He was there for nearly two years.