Thieves nab Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting from Vienna auction house

Police are searching for three men after the theft of a painting by French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir from an auction house in central Vienna, police said Wednesday. The landscape was due to go under the hammer on Wednesday but is thought to have been taken from the Dorotheum auction house late on Monday afternoon. Police have released security camera images of three men who entered the auction house at around 5:15 pm (1615 GMT). After making straight for the painting on the second floor they are thought to have left through different exits. “They were probably professionals,” Vienna police spokesman Patrick Maierhofer told the APA agency. The landscape painting, “Bay, Sea, Green Cliffs”, dates from 1895. It measures 27 centimetres by 40 centimetres (10 by 15 inches) and was valued at 120,000-160,000 euros ($136,000-180,000).