Two suspects for stealing two time-honored paintings of renowned artists Vincent van Gogh and Frans Hals last year in museums in the Netherlands have been arrested. “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring” by Dutch post-impressionist Van Gogh was shamelessly stolen on his 167th birthday, March 30 of last year, in an overnight incursion at The Singer Laren museum located in the province of North Holland, just outside Amsterdam. The museum was not open at that time following the outbreak of the coronavirus. Police said that the rip-off took place at around 3:15 a.m., and thieves entered the premises by shattering a glass door. One of the suspects was caught in his home due to suspicion. Police is also asking the public’s help in finding the art piece. The artwork portrays the garden of the parsonage Gogh lived in and where his father served as a pastor. At the time of the theft, the painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum for a wide-ranging “Mirror of the Soul” exposition of 19th-century Dutch artworks at Singer Laren.

Police added that in August of the same year, Dutch Golden Age artist Frans Hals’ “Two Laughing Boys With a Mug of Beer” was also snitched from the Hofje van mevrouw Aerden in Leerdam. A 58-year-old man from Baarn was then arrested for stealing the painting. The artwork, which was valued at 15 million euros, illustrates two boys laughing with a jug of beer. As described by Frans Hals specialist Anna Tummers, the 1626 painting was a “wonderful example of his loose painting style… it was very playful, daring and loose.” Authorities continue to search for both artworks that remain missing, as well as the other suspects involved.