MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- The last three of seven paintings by Norman Rockwell stolen from a suburban art gallery in 1978 have been recovered.
An art dealer in Rio de Janeiro turned the paintings over to U.S. and Brazilian authorities earlier this month, the FBI said.
No charges currently are pending against the dealer, Jose Maria Caneiro. The FBI, at a Philadelphia news conference Wednesday, released no details on how the paintings wound up in a farmhouse outside Teresopolis, Brazil, about 60 miles from Rio. The paintings were valued between $700,000 and $1 million, the FBI said.
"In all probability, these paintings passed through a number of hands before ending up in Brazil," Minneapolis FBI spokeswoman Coleen Rowley said.
The paintings -- "So Much Concern," "The Spirit of 1976" and "Summer or a Hasty Retreat" -- belonged to calendar publisher Brown & Bigelow Co. of St. Paul and were stolen while on loan to the Elayne Galleries in St. Louis Park, Minn., on the opening night of an exhibit, along with four other Rockwells and a Renoir seascape.
The FBI said all three are in "excellent" condition.
"So Much Concern" and "The Spirit of 1976" were painted for Boy Scout calendars in 1975 and 1976. "Summer" appeared on a 1954 seasonal calendar.
The FBI said Carneiro first contacted the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., in 1994 and offered to sell "Spirit of 1976," which depicts Boy Scouts at the bicentennial, and "So Much Concern," which shows scouts planting trees. The museum knew the paintings had been stolen and notified Elayne's.
In 1999, Elayne's bought back two of the other stolen paintings -- "Before the Date: Cowboy" and "Before the Date: Cowgirl" -- and two others were seized when someone brought them to a Philadelphia gallery in 1998 for sale -- "She's My Baby" and "Lickin' Good Bath." The Renoir still is missing.
"I think it's great -- they're finally back," said Bonnie Lindberg, the former owner of Elayne's.
Between 1925 and 1976, Brown & Bigelow used more than 100 Rockwell paintings for its calendars.
"Soon they'll be hanging back in our building here," company President Bill Smith Sr. told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
