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Two-ton sculpture stolen
17/12/2005 20:58 - (SA)
London - A giant bronze statue worth three million pounds by the late British sculptor Henry Moore has been stolen from a museum outside London, police said on Saturday.
Thieves broke into the Henry Moore Foundation in Perry Green in Hertfordshire, north of London, on Thursday evening and stole the 1969-70 work "A Reclining Figure", possibly for scrap value, according to police.
Two vehicles entered the courtyard of the museum and three men then loaded the sculpture, measuring more than 11 feet (3.3m) long and weighing 2.1 ton, on to the back of a truck using a crane.
"This is a very valuable statue and we are working closely with the Henry Moore Foundation to ensure its safe return," said Detective Sergeant Graeme Smith of Hertfordshire Police.
"The Foundation is offering a substantial reward for information leading to its recovery... We are fearful it is possibly going to be sold for scrap, which would be a travesty."
The second vehicle used by the men is thought to have been an old-style Mini Cooper, according to police.
The Foundation's 70-acre (28-hectare) site houses the studios, barns and galleries bestowed by the abstract artist in 1977.
Moore, who died in 1986 aged 88, was widely regarded as Britain's best 20th century sculptor. He moved to Perry Green with his family after his London home suffered bomb damage and lived and worked there for the rest of his life.
Taken from the farmyard
In 1992, Moore's collection of sculptures, 3 000 drawings and 8 000 prints was valued at 130 million pounds.
Last month, Moore's "Mother and Child" - a marble sculpture measuring just under nine inches (22.8cm) - sold for 1 069 600 pounds at auction, a record for one of his carvings.
Foundation spokesperson Gareth Spence said it was the first such theft there but even though up to now the weight of sculptures was thought to be deterrent enough for would-be thieves, security would now be reassessed.
The statue, which had been on display in recent months on one of the estate's fields, was taken from the farmyard area and had been due to be moved to another location.
"Obviously, we are very upset and disappointed. The theft alone has caused a great deal of upset, but the thought of it being melted down is ever more so," Spence said.
"It is very difficult to express the emotions of the Foundation at the moment at the prospect of that."
Moore's work has previously been the subject of crime: a 52 000-pound sculpture was taken from a London gallery in 1997 but later found in a taxi. Two years earlier, vandals "beheaded" his "King and Queen" sculpture in Dumfries, southwest Scotland.
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