The thieves who took seven sculptures – including a cast of Rodin’s Thinker – from the gardens of the Singer Museum in Laren appear to have been after bronze, director Ineke Middag said on Saturday. The Rodin sculpture has been recovered but is missing one leg and efforts appear to have been made to cut it into pieces, Middag said.

She said thieves appear to have been so shocked by the media attention for the theft that they abandoned their efforts. Two men have been arrested but the other six works of art have not yet been recovered.