THE ARCHIVE BY COUNTRY
Published reports from our archive, newest first.
A country may refer to the theft, recovery, return or legal proceedings. A case can be linked to more than one country.
8 reports
Le Journal des Arts reports that Willem Cornelisz Duyster’s Le Buveur, stolen from Orléans’s Musée Paul Fourché in 1940, was identified in a Lucerne auction catalogue. The sale was stopped and the holder agreed to return it. Restitution was expected within weeks and was not yet completed at publication.
S.W. Associates reward advertisement reproduced by Watson from Le Nouvelliste, 13 January 2026. The artworks were not publicly identified. Image source ↗
Watson reported an S.W. Associates advertisement offering up to €1 million for paintings stolen from a chalet on 26 September 2025. Artists and works were undisclosed; current validity is unconfirmed.
Gold-coin display at Lausanne-Vidy museum, reproduced in the robbery report. Sipa/AP/Jean-Christophe Bott, via DNA. Image source ↗
After the museum’s 18 November 2025 gold-coin robbery, insurers were reported willing to consider up to €200,000 for recovery information. This was conditional wording, not a confirmed present-day payment promise.
Bavarian police reported raids in three countries on 15 October in an investigation into attempted organised art fraud. Twenty suspected forgeries were seized. A copy of Rembrandt's De Staalmeesters had allegedly been offered for 120 million Swiss francs, although the original is in the Rijksmuseum. Eleven people were under investigation; expert examinations were continuing, and no conviction was announced.
Édouard Manet, La Sultane (1871) · Kunsthaus Zürich / Wikimedia Commons Image source ↗
The Silberberg trust and Bührle Foundation reached a settlement over the 1937 sale of Manet’s La Sultane. The painting remains in the collection and the terms are confidential.
Swiss prosecutors seize disputed Modigliani after Panama Papers revelations — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Swiss prosecutors secured a disputed Modigliani in a Geneva freeport amid a Nazi-looting ownership claim. The source reports a seizure and investigation, not a completed restitution or a final ownership ruling.
Zurich authorities confirmed the return of works by Cézanne, Degas, Monet and Van Gogh stolen in 2008, following cooperation with Serbia.
Serbian authorities announced the recovery of two Picasso paintings stolen from a 2008 exhibition in Pfäffikon. Photo from the presentation of the recovered paintings at the Sprengel Museum.
