Italian police have recovered a Banksy artwork that was stolen from outside Paris’s Bataclan theatre last year.
The painting was created in tribute to the victims of the 2015 terror attack at the famous music hall, and depicted a young woman with a mournful expression.
In January 2019, the artwork was removed from one of the Bataclan’s emergency doors by hooded men, using angle grinders.
According to La Repubblica, the piece was discovered in a farmhouse in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
The district attorney of L’Aquila, Michele Renzo, said: “The finding was possible following investigations conducted by the district prosecutor in collaboration with the police and the French judiciary.”
Banksy created the mural following the November 2015 attack, in which armed militants targeted the venue during an Eagles of Death Metal gig. Ninety people were killed.
The enigmatic street artist has recently devised an artwork inspired by George Floyd, the Minneapolis man whose death in police custody sparked a wave of anti-racist protests worldwide.
Banksy also weighed in on the toppling of Bristol’s statue of Edward Colston, posting a suggestion on Instagram for a suitable replacement for the likeness of the historical slave trader.
