TOPEKA, Kan. — A stolen Marc Chagall painting for which authorities received a ransom note demanding Middle East peace may have been found by a Kansas postal worker amid undelivered mail, the FBI said Tuesday.
The 8-by-10-inch painting, "Study for 'Over Vitebsk"', was inside an unclaimed or undelivered package opened in a dead letter office in Topeka by a postal worker. He noticed several museum stamps on the back, indicating its value, said FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza in Kansas City.
"We believe there is a strong resemblance to the stolen painting," Lanza said, adding that the work by the Russian-born artist was in the process of being authenticated.
Chagall's 1914 oil study was discovered missing from a gallery wall after a June 8 cocktail reception at the Jewish Museum in New York. The painting was part of an exhibition of Chagall's early Russian works assembled from private Russian collections.
Authorities said they received a ransom note demanding peace between Israel and the Palestinians before the work, valued at an estimated $1 million, would be returned.
Politically motivated ransom demands are rare for stolen artworks, said Anna Kisluk, a spokeswoman for the Art Loss Register, an organization that tracks stolen art works.
In one case involving the theft of Edvard Munch's masterpiece, "The Scream," a Norwegian anti-abortion group said it could arrange for the painting's return if their film was broadcast. It turned out they knew nothing of the whereabouts of the painting, which was eventually recovered, Kisluk said.
In another case, a British pensioner upset about an increase in license fees for radios and televisions stole a painting from the National Portrait Gallery and demanded the fees be rescinded. And the Irish Republican Army once looted art from an estate and demanded the release of some political prisoners as well as money.
Between $2 billion and $6 billion worth of cultural property is stolen annually, according to Interpol, and only 10 percent to 15 percent is recovered. The more famous the artwork, the more likely it will be recovered because of the difficulty in selling it.
Chagall's work depicts the figure of a beggar, presumed to be Jewish, floating over rooftops of a Russian town, reflecting Jews' plight in Russia.