Stolen Banksy 'Girl with Balloon' painting found

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September 13, 2024 3:25 AM EDT

FILE PHOTO: A gallery technician adjusts Banksy's artwork "Balloon Girl" (1975) at Sotheby's auction house at Olympia in London February 2, 2007. The piece is expected to fetch between $14,000 - $20,000 when it is auctioned on February 7. REUTERS / Luke M

LONDON (Reuters) - One of British street artist Banksy's best-known paintings, "Girl with Balloon", has been found after its theft from a London gallery last week with two men charged, police said on Friday.

The work features a young girl reaching for a red heart-shaped balloon and there are several murals depicting the same image in London and elsewhere.

The painting was the only item stolen on Sept. 8, police said, adding it would be returned to the gallery.

The two men, aged 47 and 53, were charged with burglary on Thursday and remain in police custody.

They have already appeared in court where they were bailed, and will next appear before a judge on Oct. 9.

The "Girl with Balloon" first appeared on the streets of London's Shoreditch neighbourhood in 2002, with Banksy creating versions of the painting on London's South Bank in 2004 and at Israel's barrier at the West Bank in 2005.

Banksy rose to fame for sharply ironic outdoor graffiti with political themes. Once a small-time graffiti artist from the English city of Bristol, his art work has become hugely popular and valuable.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)


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