Stolen Monet, 8 Other Works Are Recovered

Clues from Japan led police to a stolen masterpiece by Claude Monet that gave its name to Impressionism, a French police chief said today.

Monet’s “Impression Sunrise” and eight other Impressionist works were taken from a Paris museum five years ago. All nine were recovered from a villa on the French island of Corsica on Wednesday.

Mireille Ballestrazzi, head of France’s art theft police squad, said more than 12 suspects were being held. One was handed over to a judge, who will decide whether to press charges.

It was not clear whether those arrested included the hooded bandits who raided the Marmottan Museum in broad daylight.

Ballestrazzi said she found the first clues three years ago during an investigation in Japan, where experts feared the works could have been sold.

“We got some testimonies that led us to Corsica step by step,” she said in a television interview.

Apart from Monet’s 1872 masterpiece--a misty dawn in Normandy that gave its name to the Impressionist movement--the nine recovered paintings included two by Auguste Renoir.

Two were slightly damaged.