However, proving too large for their getaway vehicle, two of the four portraits were left behind on the street, while the other two were ineptly cut from their frames. Though the vehicle has since been recovered by police, the robbers have been able to avoid authorities and the portraits of Queen Elizabeth II of the U.K. and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark are still missing.
The prints they abandoned featured depictions of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Ntombi Tfwala, Queen Mother of Eswatini.
Art detective Arthur Brand, who has previously made headlines for recovering missing artworks by Picasso and Van Gogh, has mentioned that not much about the theft is known yet, “but it is strange that explosives were used. That’s not common for art thefts.”
Local authorities have launched an investigation of the incident and are in the process of forensic testing and obtaining an appeal for witness statements.
Mark Peet Visser, the gallery’s owner, referred to the theft as “amateurish,” adding that the use of explosives was “so violent that my entire building was destroyed.” In a statement shared on Instagram, the gallery also mentioned that the prints were “a 12th edition of 40— a rare and singular set now lost due to this senseless act.”
