Holder agrees to return stolen painting, Orléans museum director says

The holder of Un Buveur (The Drinker), a painting by Dutch artist Willem Cornelisz Duyster, has agreed to return it without payment after being shown evidence that it was stolen, Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans director Olivia Voisin told ARTnews. The painting remains in customs at the French border.

The agreement follows the painting’s discovery at an auction house in Switzerland in October 2026. It was stolen from the Musée Paul Fourché, an annex of the Orléans art museum, which was looted and then burned in June 1940.

A volunteer finds the painting

The museum’s “Wanted” campaign, launched in early July 2026, invited volunteers to search auction websites and catalogs for missing works. Its posters feature black-and-white images of missing works beneath “WANTED” in bold, capital letters styled after the American Old West. They have been shared on social media, the museum website and news platforms, with the campaign supported by a two-year-old digital catalog of stolen works. Inspired by the campaign, Orléans resident and former antiques dealer Jean-Bernard Rouilly found Un Buveur in Gloggner’s catalog for an October 17 auction in Lucerne.

The listing treated the painting as a possible study of the original. Voisin said that when she placed an image of the stolen painting over a digital image of the offered work, they matched perfectly. Analyses and comparisons with museum inventory photographs also helped establish its identity.

Voisin said the auction house cooperated and was transparent. She also told Le Journal des Arts that an exchange of photographs was needed to persuade the auctioneer to stop the sale, because French police could not seize the painting in Switzerland.

The collection and the return

The holder, a Dutch-painting specialist, bought the painting in good faith at a London auction house in the 1990s. Voisin said he felt he had enjoyed it for 35 years and that it was time for it to go home.

Un Buveur shows a seated man holding out an empty glass and raising his other arm as if speaking. Duyster, an Amsterdam painter, began as a portraitist before specializing in scenes of social gatherings and military life; he was best known for his guardroom scenes. ARTnews described the painting as representative of the stolen collection, which included several similar Dutch scenes of revelry.

The painting appears damaged by layers of later paint and attempts to clean it. Crude overpainting had also raised doubts about its provenance. The museum still has 424 paintings missing from its collection, including works lost or stolen at other times. In a November 2 report, Le Journal des Arts said the museum expected restitution within a few weeks.

ARTnews considered the painting representative of the stolen collection and its similar Dutch scenes of revelry. Despite the apparent damage, Voisin estimated that it would be worth €25,000–€30,000 if it were in good condition.