Titian’s body stolen during his flight to Egypt found at bus stop, sold for $22 million

Titian Rest on the Flight into Egypt The painting broke auction records when it sold for $22 million at auction. A savvy art detective who found it in a plastic bag at a bus stop can take all the credit. The 16th-century masterpiece, by one of Italy’s great masters, has changed hands several times over the centuries. It was looted by Napoleon Bonaparte during his occupation of Vienna in 1809, then stolen again nearly two centuries later. The work was removed from Lord Bath’s collection at Longleat House in January 1995, when thieves scaled the side of the mansion with a ladder and then smashed a window to steal it, according to the Telegraph. At the time, the painting was worth $4.6 million, but finding a buyer for the stolen goods made selling it nearly impossible, and so it sat in the hands of thieves for seven years, according to the Telegraph. Charles Hill, a Scotland Yard detective assigned to the stolen Titian case, recovered the work from a man sitting at a London bus stop, who had unframed it and wrapped it in plastic bags. The painting has since sold for $17 million in 2011, and then for $22 million on Tuesday at a Christie’s auction.