FBI recovers 228-year-old Goya painting

updated 5:39 p.m. ET Nov. 20, 2006

NEWARK, N.J. - FBI agents in New Jersey have recovered a 1778 painting by famed Spanish artist Francisco de Goya that was stolen as it was being taken to an exhibition earlier this month, the agency announced Monday.

The painting, “Children with a Cart,” disappeared en route from the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. It is estimated to be worth about $1.1 million.

The artwork appears to be unharmed, said Les Wiser, special agent in charge of the Newark FBI office.

The FBI said extensive media coverage of the theft led to tips that enabled the agency to recover the painting. But the agency did not reveal when, where or how the painting was recovered, citing an ongoing investigation.

The painting was taken from a professional art transporter’s truck that was parked overnight in a hotel parking lot in Stroudsburg, Pa., on Nov. 8. It had been scheduled to be displayed in the exhibition “Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth, and History,” which opened at the Guggenheim on Nov. 17.

The image of four children at play was insured for about $1 million and was to be exhibited with about 135 paintings by Spanish masters.

The insurer had offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the recovery of the artwork.

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