They Found It! Goya Recovered by FBI

Thanks to tips received as a result of "comprehensive media coverage of the theft," Goya's "Children With a Cart," stolen en route from the Toledo Museum to the Guggenheim Museum, has been recovered in Newark and "appears to be unharmed," the FBI announced today. Previous news reports that suggested the theft had probably been an "inside job" were incorrect, federal agents said.

According to the just-published AP story, FBI spokesman Steven Siegel indicated that "the thieves apparently did not know what was inside the truck when they broke into it. 'It was a target of opportunity. They probably thought it was a truck full of PlayStations,'" Siegel said. He added that there had been no arrests, but the investigation was continuing, according to the AP's Wayne Parry. Few other details were released.

Glad to get back its Goya, the Toledo Museum is taking it home, rather than allowing it to be displayed, as planned, in the Guggenheim's Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso.

The name of the shipping firm whose truck was burglarized has still not been released, but a Guggenheim source told CultureGrrl that it specializes in art transport and "our registrar says it is a company that everybody uses and will still have to use, because there are so few of them and it's the best."

If this is the best, CultureGrrl is depressed!