Stolen Renoir paintings found in France, six arrested

Two Renoir paintings stolen from a museum in southern France last month have been found, and six people arrested, local authorities said on Friday.

The mayor of the town housing the Renoir Museum, Bryan Masson, issued a statement praising investigators who tracked down the paintings and suspects. The statement did not elaborate on how they did so.

The regional prosecutor’s office and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The mayor announced a news conference for later Friday.

The two missing paintings were “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well.”

The thieves sliced through a fence, climbed through a window and initially stole four valuable Renoir paintings in the heist last month, but abandoned two of the artworks as they fled, authorities said.