Hunt for ten masterpieces stolen from Glasgow's art collection

UP TO ten paintings may have been stolen from Glasgow's art collections, officials believe, after three works missing for more than a decade were recovered when one was put up for sale in an Edinburgh auction.

Police inquiries are thought to centre on two missing paintings, a work by the Scottish painter William McTaggart and another that was once attributed to the celebrated English painter John Constable.

They are part of a group of five that went missing some time between the late 1980s and mid-1990s.

Three of the artworks, worth more than 200,000, including one by the Scottish painter Samuel Peploe, are now back with Glasgow Museums.

A spokesman for Glasgow Life, the body which looks after public museums, said: "We're very grateful for the work of the police in bringing these paintings home to Glasgow. We will continue to work with UK police forces to ensure any stolen item is returned."

He said "every praise" was owed to the senior curator at the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, who recognised one of the works, by Jean-Baptist-Camille Corot, when it was put up for sale by the Edinburgh auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull.

Concerns over missing artworks at Glasgow were revealed in an anonymous letter to the council some 15 years ago that said at least one member of staff was selling items on the black market.

A 1996 auditors' report that followed criticised the arrangements for recording artefacts and access to stores, saying they left collections vulnerable to theft.

Yesterday a spokesman for Glasgow Life said its latest audit showed that 84 paintings from its collection of 10,000 had gone missing over the past 70 years.

He added: "The majority are simply misplaced, but we suspect ten have been stolen."

Some of the thefts may date back decades, however, with recovery unlikely.

• War poet's medal among items worth millions still posted missing

The police investigation is thought to have focused on the five works known to have gone missing more recently.

In November, a work called Wooded Landscape with Figures by Corot was featured in a sale catalogue at Lyon & Turnbull. After the Kelvingrove curator raised questions, it was removed by police.

A Peploe painting sold by the same source, bought by the well-known Ewan Mundy gallery in Glasgow, was seized by police later in the month. A further investigation last week uncovered a stolen work by Federico Barocci, it is said, after Lyon & Turnbull helped police track it down.

Of the two works that were still thought to be missing yesterday, one was bought as a Constable by the museums in the 1950s, but was later found to be the work of an unknown artist, substantially reducing its likely value.A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm we are currently investigating and inquiries are ongoing."

Lothian and Borders Police said they were not able to comment as the investigation was in progress.

A Glasgow City Council internal audit report in 1996 revealed concerns over alleged thefts from Glasgow Museums and said that arrangements for recording artefacts and their locations were unsatisfactory.

However, the city says that some 1.4 million items, formerly spread across 147 locations in 14 buildings, are now concentrated in three secure locations, with all items having been photographed and recorded.