300-pound Faun Sculpture Stolen From French Zoo In The ’90s Heads home

Three decades after it was stolen from a zoo under the cover of night, a 19th-century bronze sculpture was recovered from the United States and returned to its rightful home in the north of France, where it is now on display at the Musée de Picardie in Amiens.

According to a press release issued by the London-based Art Loss Register (ALR), Alfred Lepère’s Faune Chasseur was identified as part of due diligence preceding a proposed sale by one of ALR’s auction-house clients. The sculpture was commissioned by the French State in 1863 and is owned by the state and listed in its national collection managed by Centre National des Arts Plastiques. It was showcased at the Amiens Zoo before it was stolen in 1993.

“The recovery of this remarkable sculpture demonstrates why thorough due diligence is so important within the art market, where a stolen work can disappear for decades into private hands,” said Charlotte Chambers-Farah, ALR’s business development and client manager. “Despite the considerable weight and size of this monumental sculpture, its whereabouts were unknown for more than 30 years before it appeared in a US auction catalogue more than 4,000 miles from where it was stolen. There were no obvious indications to the auction house that it had a problematic provenance, but by checking the work against our global database, its hidden past was established before it could be sold.”

Acknowledging the recent rash of art crimes that have roiled art institutions around the world, most prominently the Louvre, Chamber-Farah added, “At a time when thefts in public institutions are once again targeting items for their material value, this recovery offers grounds for hope that their disappearance over a prolonged period does not necessarily mean that they have been melted down for scrap.”