“Indiana Jones of the Art World” helps police solve mystery of famous painting that vanished from museum in 1974

(CBS News) —- Dutch police say they have cracked the case of the mysterious disappearance of a Brueghel

painting from a Polish museum over 50 years ago. Authorities say the case was finally solved with the help of

arts magazine journalists and a well-known art detective.

“Woman Carrying the Embers,” also known as “Woman Moving A Bonfire” and painted by the Flemish-

Dutch master Pieter Brueghel the Younger around 1626, vanished from the National Museum in Gdansk

during communist times around 1974.

Its whereabouts sparked numerous rumors — including involvement by the Polish secret service at the time –

– in a story worthy of a spy novel.

The round painting, measuring just 6.6 inches, was thought to have disappeared forever.

But the stolen painting is currently under lock and key at a museum in the Dutch province of Limburg,

Richard Bronswijk of the Dutch police’s arts crime unit said.

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