Police testing recovered Munch paintings for fingerprints

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

Oslo (dpa) - Norwegian police said Monday they needed more time to secure possible forensic evidence from two recently-recovered stolen masterpieces by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.

The police were searching for fingerprints and possible DNA traces, Oslo police chief Iver Stensrud told Norwegian news agency NTB, adding that investigators would need at least this week to finish their task.

Armed men stole the well-known paintings in August 2004.

Police were cooperating with conservation experts at the Munch Museum to determine what methods could be used without causing further damage to the paintings.

Acting museum director Ingebjorg Ydstie said earlier that experts had detected puncture holes in the Madonna painting while The Scream, which was painted on cardboard, had been damaged in one corner, probably when it was dropped on the floor.

Photographs of the two works have been taken and Oslo city council which operates the museum was set to decide if the photos would be put on display before restoration work precedes to satisfy public interest.

Police announced August 31 this year that they had recovered the missing works, but have not said how they retrieved the paintings or where they believed they were kept while missing.

In May, a Norwegian court sentenced three men to jail terms ranging from four to eight years for their role in the theft.

Two of the three were also sentenced to pay sizeable damages, but the prosecutor said he would limit the fines to the cost for restoring the works.

An appeal trial is pending in January.

Munch, who lived from 1863 to 1944, is considered one of Europe's most important expressionist artists. He made several versions of the two recovered works.