Stolen Matisse artworks recovered by police in Brazil

The works were stolen from the Mario de Andrade Library in São Paulo last year The Matisse illustrations, made for the limited-edition art book Jazz, along with five engravings by Portinari, created to illustrate a special edition of the novel Menino de engheno (Plantation Boy) by Brazilian writer José Lins do Rego, formed part of a joint exhibition with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art.

During the heist at Biblioteca Mário de Andrade on 7 December last year, two thieves overpowered a security guard and an elderly couple who had been ing the library, before making off with the artworks through the main entrance on foot.

Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira, 53, described by Brazilian media as a prolific art thief, is suspected of having planned and directed the crime, according to Brazilian news outlet Globo.