US returns stolen Degas to France

Jan 23, 2011 |

Washington

The United States on Friday returned to the French government a painting by French impressionist Edgar Degas stolen in 1973 in France and set to be auctioned in New York in 2010.

The work, Laundry Women with Toothache, or Les blanchisseuses souffra-nt des dents, was returned to the acting French ambassador to the US, Francois Rivasseau, by the director of US immigration and customs enforcement, John Morton. The masterpiece was stolen in 1973 from the Malraux Museum in Le Havre, France, where it was on loan from the Louvre.
The painting created between 1870 and 1872 resurfaced in October 2010 when authorities from Interpol spotted the it in a Sotheby’s catalog to be auctioned off November 3. —AFP

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