Rodin’s $350,000 sculpture is stolen from Israel museum

A statue by French sculptor Auguste Rodin was stolen from the Israel Museum during the facility's recently completed renovation, the museum said.

The nude bronze of French novelist Honore de Balzac was one of a series of studies Rodin cast for a monument to Balzac on display in Paris. It was donated to the museum in 1966 by the Jewish-American impresario and lyricist Billy Rose.

The museum said the theft was discovered three months ago and immediately reported to police. The statue is 50 inches high and 24 inches wide and weighs about 65kg. It was molded in 1892 and cast posthumously between 1918 and 1926.

Rodin, who lived between the years 1840-1917, is renowned for masterpieces such as "The Thinker'' and "The Kiss.''

The museum said it could not provide a value for the Balzac piece. But based on Rodin sculptures of similar dimensions it put the estimated value of the stolen item at approximately $350,000. Christopher Marinello, the executive director and general counsel of The Art Loss Register, said it would be very difficult to sell such a high-profile piece of stolen art in the open market without detection.