Jean-Luc Martinez, president of the Louvre Museum, holds an ancient breastplate during its official restitution in Paris, on March 3, 2021
Credit: AFP
A 16th century gold and silver-encrusted armour set stolen nearly 40 years ago from the Louvre in a mystery heist evocative of the hit Netflix series Lupin has been recovered and returned to the museum.
On Wednesday, the museum announced that police had recovered a ceremonial helmet and plate of armour that date back to the Renaissance era and are believed to have been made in the region of Milan.
After disappearing off the radar for nearly four decades, the stolen artefacts resurfaced in Bordeaux earlier this year when a French military antiques expert was called in to appraise the pieces as part of a family inheritance.
The objects roused the suspicion of the expert who flagged the items to police who work in an office dedicated to finding trafficked cultural goods in France.
The real-life art crime is reminiscent of the wildly popular French Netflix series Lupin
Credit: Emmanuel Guimier /Television Stills
Through a national database of stolen artworks, investigators confirmed that the items had been stolen from the Louvre on May 31, 1983, in a theft that remains an unsolved mystery.
A guard discovered the items missing in the early morning of June 1, when they saw shattered glass and an empty space where the set should have been, Louvre President Jean-Luc Martinez told Le Figaro.
The real-life art crime is reminiscent of the wildly popular French Netflix series Lupin — released around the same time the items were discovered in January — about a master of disguises who pulls off the ultimate heist at the Louvre, swiping a necklace once worn by Marie Antoinette.
Meanwhile, police are now investigating how the items ended up in the collection of a Bordeaux family.
The ceremonial breastplate and armour were described as 'exceptional'
Credit: AFP
“I was certain we would see them reappear one day because they are such singular objects. But I could never have imagined that it would work out so well – that they would be in France and still together,” said Philippe Malgouyres, the Louvre’s head of heritage artworks, on Wednesday.
“They are prestige weapons, made with virtuosity, sort of the equivalent of a luxury car today. In the 16th century, weapons became works of very luxurious art. Armour became an ornament that had nothing to do with its use,” he told AFP.
The pieces were first donated to the museum by the Rothschild family in 1922.
The items will be put on display in the Richelieu wing when the museum reopens.
The database of stolen artworks in France includes 100,000 objects. Last year, 900 objects were recorded stolen and added to the file. A portrait by the 19th century French painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was also stolen from the Louvre in 1998 and has yet to be recovered.
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