Stolen Rembrandt painting found, 15 years later

The Rembrandt painting Child with a soap-bubble has been recovered, 15 years after it was stolen from a museum in Draguignan. French newspaper Libération announces that two men, aged 44 and 51, who tried to resell the painting have been apprehended. Police and the Central office against the trafficking of cultural goods (OCBC) in southern French city Nice came upon the painting's trail.

The painting was stolen in July 1999. They took only the Rembrandt, leaving the various Renoirs and other valuable works behind. It is for this very reason that Police thought the painting was stolen on instruction of an art collector or other interested party, but nothing was learned of this after the theft. The canvas of 60 by 49 centimeters has been hanging in Nice since 1794. Rembrandt is in the list of top ten painters whose works of art are stolen most often. According to a report from 2012 of the Art Loss Register organization, 337 of the Dutch painter's pieces were missing. The authenticity of the painting is not entirely uncontested.