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Police Recover Stolen Da Vinci Painting

By JILL LAWLESS,
AP
Posted: 2007-10-04 21:12:50
Filed Under: Crime News, World News
LONDON (Oct. 4) - Detectives on Thursday recovered a Leonardo da Vinci painting that was stolen from a Scottish castle in a daring daylight raid four years ago.

Officers raided an address in Glasgow and seized "Madonna with the Yarnwinder," Scotland's Dumfries and Galloway police said. Three men from England and one man from Scotland were arrested.

Photo Gallery: Stolen Masterpieces

E.G. Buehrle Collection/AP

In what police called a "spectacular" heist, armed robbers made off with works from artists Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne and Edgar Degas from a Swiss museum earlier this month. Police said Tuesday that two of the works were recovered, including Monet's 'Poppy Field at Vetheuil,' above.

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The painting appeared on the FBI's 10 most-wanted list of stolen art and on the Art Loss Register's list of stolen masterpieces, where it was valued at $65 million.

Police said art experts had confirmed the recovered painting was the Leonardo masterpiece, stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in southern Scotland in August 2003.

The lead investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Mickey Dalgleish, said the painting had been tracked down in a combined operation by Scottish police and national crime agencies, with help from the public.

"We are extremely pleased to recover the 'Madonna with the Yarnwinder' painting," he said.

"Madonna with the Yarnwinder" was stolen from the castle while it was on public display. Two thieves posing as tourists overpowered a guide before escaping with the painting.

The oil-on-wood painting, which shows the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus on her lap holding a cross-shaped spindle for yarn, is one of several versions of the same scene painted between 1500 and 1510.

Photo Gallery: Da Vinci Discoveries

Antonio Calanni, AP

Giovanni Maria Pala said by putting symbolic elements in Leonardo Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' on a musical staff, he found a 40-second "hymn to God."

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Some scholars have suggested the painting is the work of Leonardo's assistants, but Scottish experts have said that the central figures of the Madonna and child are the artist's own work, and that the overall design is likely to be his.

Drumlanrig Castle, which houses one of the finest private art collections in Britain, also contains masterpieces by Rembrandt and Holbein. The structure, completed in 1691, is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Scotland and is home to one of Scotland's richest landowners, the Duke of Buccleuch.

The painting had been in the Buccleuch family for more than 200 years. Its recovery comes a month after the death at 83 of the ninth Duke of Buccleuch. He was succeeded by his son.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-10-04 16:36:23
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Recent Comments

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761 comments

usforjustice 10:21:56 PM Oct 06 2007

Check out what's really going on within the criminal justice system at: www.justiceforus.org

burtonruth 06:06:39 PM Oct 06 2007

Worthless By Line By: Jill Lawless - AP
Do we have to teach her, Who, What, Where, When and by What Standard?
Who stole the Mugging Paintings?
Three men from England and one man from Scotland does not cut it.
Was it Inspector Clouseau ?
Was it Charlie Chan?
This writer,"Jill Lawless", is a sockpuppet .

rmcneal337 02:30:25 PM Oct 06 2007

Anyone who believes this junk of hidden messages also must still believe in Santa. You can find anything you want in pictures or photos if you look for it just like clouds. It does not make it true.

bforr 02:16:00 PM Oct 06 2007

PEOPLE WHO ENDANGER ART SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY EXECUTED.
DOES ANYONE REMEMBER HOW MUCH ART WAS DESTROYED IN WW-II?

tilemont 02:11:00 PM Oct 06 2007

jonesbarbi 10:28:53 AM Oct 06 2007

Report This! MY GERMAN SOALGENE STILL GET UP FOR A GOOD CLEAN PIE THAT AIN'T
TAINTED WE ALL LIKE CLEAN SEX WITH CLEAN PEOPLE MAN ON WOMAN ONLY
NOT THESE BUY SEX UNUSEABLES THAT HAVE NO IDEA WAY TRASH GETS
THROWN OUT ACK UNCLE SAMMY AND HIS LITTLE BLACK SAMBOES.???

yakobro 01:29:08 PM Oct 06 2007

how much?

jonesbarbi 11:13:58 AM Oct 06 2007

ELVIS RULED AND THE PROMIESED LAND WAS A SPRITUL SONG AS WAS MANY OTHERS I AM THANK FULL IS WAS A SON OF THE LIGHT THAT SAW HIM LIVE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON IN THE 1970'S THE BACK UP SINGERS WERE ANGLES AND BEUTIFUL LADIES. LIFE IS GOOD JUST SMART GIRLS ARE HARDER TO FIND THEY ARE FAR AND NEAR BUT PAPERS THAT SAY YOU ARE CLEAN OF A.I.D.S. AND OTHER STUFF ONLY REAL WORKING GRILS HAVE EM, IT IS SCARIE TO THINK ONCE YOU GET IT CAN'T BE CLEAN.??? FOR KIDS$$$$
WHY SHOULD THE DEMS WANT TO PAY FOR BAD TEACHINGS ON THIER LAST
WATCH IN THE WHITE LAW HOUSE THEY SPREAD A.I.D.S. AND LOVE SO MUCH POWER NOT SAFETY. ON ANY FRONT WHY SHOULD THEY GET ANOTHER$$$$

jonesbarbi 10:52:32 AM Oct 06 2007

HAPPY BITH DAY TO ME 45 IS A GOOD STARTING POINT GOT NEW FERTILE
GARYDIENINING SPOTS AND MANY PEPPERS PLANTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
NICE TRY EAST OF EDEN AND WEST TO PLAINS I AM STILL ON TRACK EVERY DAY FOR MY COMPANIES SEE YA AND THANK FULL FOR ALL MY GIRL FRIENDS
THAT DID AND DID NOT TAKE THE SEEDLIENS THE ONES THAT DID ARE STILL
GETTING PAID EVERY WHERE AND THE KIDS WILL REALY MAKE OUT IN THE END
US ^$#@!^ PEOPLE KNOW THAT LIFE WAS NOT FREE OR A NECKLESS WAS NOT THE PRIZZE.! LIFE IS WITH NO A.I.D.S. OR HERPIES.! AIN'T THAT RIGHT SAMMY. AND IF YOU DO GET THE CLAP GET SHOTS TO FIX IT DON'T SPREAD IT AND IF SOMEONES OLD LADIE GIVES IT TO YA TELL HER OLD MAN SO HE CAN FIX THEM BOTH.!?
(-:=) JUST ANOTHER PRY VET EYE WITNESS FOR DA MAN GOD IS GREAT. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY BAR BAR SEE SEE ANNA ANNA BANG BANG IT IT
BYE BYE OLD LUMP OF COAL SEE I WAS REALY 4 REAL ALWAYS THIERS.

jonesbarbi 10:28:53 AM Oct 06 2007

MY GERMAN SOALGENE STILL GET UP FOR A GOOD CLEAN PIE THAT AIN'T
TAINTED WE ALL LIKE CLEAN SEX WITH CLEAN PEOPLE MAN ON WOMAN ONLY
NOT THESE BUY SEX UNUSEABLES THAT HAVE NO IDEA WAY TRASH GETS
THROWN OUT ACK UNCLE SAMMY AND HIS LITTLE BLACK SAMBOES.???

jonesbarbi 10:22:48 AM Oct 06 2007

I MADE PAINT IN TEXAS 22 YEARS AGO FOR A 72 GRAND PRIX AT THE BALL
PARK WE ALL USED FOR FUN JUST HAVING FUN WE LISTEND TO MANY KIDS OF MUSIC AND LOVED MANY GIRLS BUT MY FLAVOR RITS WERE GREAT GIRLS
NOT COME BELCHIN GUTTER SLUGS THAT LOVE SUCKING SHIT THROUGH A 100 DOLLAR STRAW OR LICKING NUTS LIKE TOBY HUGHES WAS AT 811OAK WOOD
LINCLON MILES DRIVE IN ALTON AND TRICKY DICKEY DURBUMS PET PORK FAT
SHOP OF CHOPS. SCUM FLOATS AND SMELLS BAD GO THING WE DON'T STEP IN IT

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761 comments

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