Mystery remains of masterpieces' lost decade

The could scarcely believe their hunt might be at an end. But when the two experts from the Tate clapped eyes on the painting in Germany last Monday, there was no doubt.

Eight years after one of the Tate's most important works by Turner had been lent to a gallery in Frankfurt and stolen, the painting – now worth at least £20m – had been found. Unknown to all but a handful of people, its sister work, seized in the same raid, was actually recovered two years ago. But the whereabouts of both works since the night of 28 July 1994, remains a mystery.

The paintings were taken by two men who hid in the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt. When it closed, they chose the moment between the guards leaving and the alarm system being activated to handcuff and gag the night watchman. They grabbed the two Turners, both 25 inches square, and a Caspar David Friedrich owned by another German gallery, and made their getaway in a car waiting at the back door.

Sandy Nairne, who ran the recovery operation at the Tate before moving to become director of the National Portrait Gallery, recalled yesterday how he went straight to Germany the morning after. "I stood in the galleries in what was an extraordinarily forlorn moment and looked at the space on the wall from which the Tate's two great late Turners had been taken," Mr Nairne said.

Within days, the Tate received an extortion demand from a man claiming to have information on the works. A week-long inquiry by the Metropolitan Police proved it was a con and a man was arrested. Other rumours came and went. It was, however, true that Antwerp police arrested two men allegedly trying to sell the works in 2001. The Tate, secretly aware that one was already back in its possession, had a look. They were copies.

The real clues came through work by the Metropolitan police, working with German police, loss adjusters, art experts and the hazy world of informants.The Tate spent £3.5m on legal fees and appeals for information throughout its long search. Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, said: "We have paid for certain information and we have paid in a number of directions, but I don't think we have paid the thieves in any sense. The sum is so small that I don't see it as significant."

The two thieves and their driver were arrested a year after the theft and were convicted in Germany in 1999. They are still in jail.

Details of the recovery of the two Turner works are being kept secret in the hope that the Caspar David Friedrich painting stolen in the same raid may still be recovered and returned to its owners, the Kunsthalle in Hamburg.

Mr Nairne would not even say yesterday where the Turners were found, other than that it was in Germany.

But Sir Nicholas said it was quite likely they had passed through more than one pair of hands. "I don't believe myself that paintings of this celebrity are ever stolen to sell on," he said. "It's quite clear that the two works and the Friedrich were stolen to order. I don't know if they were recovered from the same source, but [the second one] was recovered from information that came through similar but not identical channels."

Both works are now being closely examined by forensic science experts for clues to where they have been.

The works date from 1843, the last and most innovatively productive decade of Turner's life. When they first went on display at the Royal Academy, the art critic of The Times condemned Shade and Darkness as "a ridiculous daub" and the British public was baffled. But times have changed, and Sir Nicholas said the paintings were now considered "amongst Turner's most important works. "

The only final question for the Tate is what to do with the rest of the insurance money. Discussions on that will continue in the new year, but it was not what the Tate wanted to talk about yesterday. Stephen Deuchar, who runs Tate Britain, was delighted by the prospect of returning the works to public exhibition next month. "This is the perfect Christmas present," he said.

MISSING THE WORLD'S MOST WANTED STOLEN PICTURES

1 Jan Vermeer, 'The Concert'

Oil on canvas. Stolen on 17 March 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Eleven other works were also stolen.

2 Rembrandt, 'The Storm on the Sea of Galilee'

Oil on canvas. Rembrandt's only seascape was also stolen on 17 March 1990 from the Stewart Gardner museum.

3 Caspar David Friedrich, 'Nebelschwaden'

Oil on canvas. Owned by the Tate and stolen on 28 July 1994 while on exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany. The security guard was knocked unconscious and tied up.

4 Jan and Hubert van Eyck, 'The Just Judges'

Oil on wood, from the Ghent Altarpiece, St Bavo, Ghent, in Belgium. Stolen in 1934 and not seen since.

5 Jean Baptiste Oudry, 'Still Life with White Duck'

Oil on canvas. Stolen on 30 September 1992 from an estate in Norfolk.

6 Gustav Klimt, 'Portrait of a Woman'

Oil on canvas. Stolen from a gallery in Piacenza, Italy, in February 1997 by a thief who gained access to the gallery via a skylight. Police think the thief used a "fishing rod" device to hook and reel in the picture.

7 Pablo Picasso, 'Head of a Woman (Dora Maar)'

Oil on canvas. Stolen from yacht in Antibes, France, on 7 March 1999.

8 Raphael, 'Portrait of a Young Man'

Oil on panel, formerly in the collection of the Czartoryski Museum in Cracow, Poland. Lost or looted during the Second World War.

9 Paul Cezanne, 'Auvers sur Oise'

Oil on canvas Stolen from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford on New Year's Eve 1999.

10 Vincent van Gogh, 'Flowers in an Earthenware Jug'

Oil on canvas. Believed to have been confiscated from a chateau in the Dordogne in 1944.

Source: The Art Loss Register