On Wednesday night intruders attempted to remove two paintings from Dulwich Picture Gallery’s Rembrandt’s Light exhibition.
In a statement, the police said, “Two paintings in the exhibition were targeted and it was only down to the prompt response of gallery security staff and the courage and swift intervention of officers that these two works of art were not stolen. Thankfully both the paintings were quickly recovered and secured.”
The exhibition, which marks the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death, opened last month and focused on 35 of his paintings, etchings and drawings, including those owned by the gallery and others on loan from The Louvre and the Rijksmuseum.
The exhibition and gallery will remain closed until further notice, to allow the police to conduct a full investigation into the incident.
UPDATE 4 December 2019: According to the Art Newspaper the targeted paintings were Rembrandt’s Philemon and Baucis (1658) from the National Gallery of Art and the Louvre’s Pilgrims at Emmaus (1648).