An L.A. County Sheriff's official confirmed Tuesday that deputies recovered a stolen Rembrandt from the pastor's office of an Episcopal church in Encino.
The Rembrandt sketch stolen Saturday night from the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey was recovered Monday night from Saint Nicholas Episcopal Church in the 17100 block of Ventura Boulevard, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
Investigators were still trying to determine how it found its way into the office of Father Mike Cooper and to verify whether it is an authentic Rembrandt. Cooper referred questions to Whitmore.
The sketch titled "The Judgment" was recovered after authorities received a tip Monday evening that someone had seen the artwork on church property.
Deputies went to the property and recovered the drawing, which was positively identified by its owners, the Linearis Institute, Whitmore said.
No one has been arrested in connection with the theft, he said. "We have the Rembrandt at the station evidence lockup.... We are now seeking to authenticate it is a Rembrandt with other sources," he said.
Whitmore said detectives still plan to release a sketch and images of a person involved in the "well-thought-out, well-executed theft."
The 11-inch-by-6-inch quill pen and ink work dating to about 1655 was part of an exhibition staged by the Linearis Institute. Officials at the institute have not returned telephone calls.
The institute is described on its website as "a public repository for the visual arts specializing in works on paper by great masters of the past 500 years."
The artwork was stolen Saturday between 9:20 and 9:35 p.m. when a curator told investigators he was distracted by a guest.
"When the curator turned back to the Rembrandt, it was gone," Whitmore said.
