VANCOUVER – A heavy sculpture of a horse and rider was stolen from outside a Vancouver gallery, and it appears the theft was caught on camera.
Surveillance video captured Monday morning shows a man approaching the front of the Petley Jones Fine Art Gallery on Granville Street.
The video was captured shortly after 5 a.m. by a camera at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House next door.
The man leaves a dolly on the sidewalk and walks out of frame. He's gone for about a minute, then is seen heaving the sculpture that sat on the gallery's stoop for two years onto the dolly.
He then drags it up the sidewalk, and wheels it towards a back lot.
The abstract sculpture is by West Vancouver artist Fahri Aldin. It weighs about 250 pounds, and is listed on his website for sale for $18,500.
The bronze piece is called After Marino Marini, named for an Italian artist who died in 1980 who was known for equestrian sculptures.
The president of the gallery, Matt Petley-Jones, told CTV News he's dismayed that the sculpture may be worth little more to thieves than its material.
"Either there is somebody who wanted it for their collection, or the unfortunate thing, which police are saying, is that there are individuals who take them for the bronze content because they can sell the bronze," he said Monday night.
"I just hope we can get it back to its cherished spot in the front of the gallery. It was a beautiful sculpture."
