Eight prints by Henri Matisse that were stolen from the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo last December have been found by Civil Police in an apartment in São Bernardo do Campo, in the São Paulo metropolitan area.
The robbery took place on December 7, when two armed men broke into the library and held security guards and visitors at gunpoint.The works, valued at more than 1 million reais ($193,000), are part of the 1947 album Jazz. Library representatives confirmed the authenticity of the prints.
Businessman João Paulo Linhares de Araújo was arrested in the act on suspicion of receiving stolen goods. He is suspected of keeping the works at the request of Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira, who is accused of masterminding the robbery and has been in custody since April.
"To our surprise, the works are intact; the collection suffered no damage," police chief Ronald Quene said. The pieces will be kept in the rare works collection, with no plans for them to be displayed to the public.
According to critic Tadeu Chiarelli, only 250 original copies of the Jazz album exist worldwide. "Its cultural and artistic value is incalculable," he said.
