One of three stolen masterpieces from Oxford University returned

A 17th century masterpiece that was one of three paintings stolen from Oxford University has been returned.

The baroque painting, A Rocky Coast, With Soldiers Studying a Plan, by Salvator Rosa has now been rehung but police are still hunting the other two works of art. 

The artworks, worth £10million, were swiped from Christchurch Picture Gallery during lockdown in 2020.

Thieves smashed through the skylight in the college's art gallery and stole the oil paintings before making their getaway via boat.

After a four-year hunt, the Baroque painting has been recovered from an art dealer in Bucharest, Romania, who is believed to have sold off the other two paintings without realising they were stolen.

Jaqueline Thalmann, Christ Church Gallery curator, showing off the returned masterpiece in its gold frame which had been hanging empty for four years  

Ms Thalmann speaking to press at the gallery after the painting was found in Bucharest, Romania. A Rocky Coast, With Soldiers Studying a Plan, by Salvator Rosa hang on the wall

The painting has now been returned to its once empty frame in the gallery and is surrounded by other oil paintings in the Oxford college's specially built gallery

Police are still searching for the other two missing paintings, Antony Van Dyck's A Boy Drinking and A Soldier on Horseback by Annibale Carracci.

Thames Valley Police and Romanian authorities hope that fingerprints on the recovered canvas will help them track down the two missing works which may have been looted by Romanian cat burglars. 

Gallery curator, Jaqueline Thalmann told The Telegraph: 'It's wonderful, it's really wonderful. It gives you this spark of hope that the others are there and will come back.'

Detective Chief Inspector James Mather said: 'I'm really very pleased to have recovered the Salvator Rosa painting and hopefully we've had some breakthroughs.

'We are optimistic that lines of inquiry will open up that will lead us to the other two paintings.'

A gang allegedly used ladders stolen from Christ Church meadows to climb into the roof of the gallery around 11pm on Saturday March 14, 2020.

The thieves smashed a skylight before stealing the paintings from their frames.

The alarms sounded immediately but the thieves were able to flee with their loot before Ms Thalmann could reach the scene.

A Boy Drinking, by Annibale Carracci from 1580 could be worth up to £6million and is still missing

A Soldier on Horseback, painted by Van Dyck in 1616, is thought to be worth more than £1million and police are still trying to track down the missing artwork

Thieves stole the masterpieces, thought to be worth a total of £10million, four years ago from Christ Church College, University of Oxford 

Police told The Times that the gang had escaped by boat.

Mr Mather told the Telegraph that the paintings could have been 'stolen to order' at a kingpin collector's request.

He also said it is possible the thieves had identified a valuable set of paintings they believed they could sell on.

After the burglary, the paintings found their way to a man in Romania's capital.

The art dealer is now helping the investigation and is being treated as a witness after he admitted to selling on the much more valuable  Van Dyck and Carracci paintings before realising they were stolen.

Police hope that the outstanding paintings are still in Europe and will be found undamaged.

The irreplaceable A Soldier on Horseback, painted by Van Dyck in 1616, is thought to be worth more than £1million.

A Boy Drinking, by Annibale Carracci from 1580 was also stolen and while it doesn't have an estimated price tag, other works by the artist have sold for between £100,000 and £6million at auction.