Two Parrish Paintings Stolen From Gallery

A pair of paintings valued at nearly $5 million were stolen from a West Hollywood gallery by thieves who entered through the roof, disabled motion sensors and alarms and cut the paintings out of their frames, authorities said Wednesday.

The two paintings by Maxfield Parrish, the popular American illustrator once referred to by Smithsonian magazine as “the common man’s Rembrandt,” were stolen from the Edenhurst Gallery on Melrose sometime between Saturday evening and Monday morning, said Sgt. Bruce Thomas of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

The thieves did a professional job, authorities said, sliding down from the roof with ropes or temporary ladders, disabling the alarm system and escaping the same way, sneaking back out with the probably rolled-up paintings, which measure 5 by 6 feet.

The paintings were part of a series of oil on canvas panels created for a room in the Long Island estate of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, said Maria Gilbert, whose mother, Alma Gilbert, once had the works in her gallery.

Named Panel 3A and 3B, they depict two couples and an urn set against the backdrop of Colorado mountains.

“They’re nearly national treasures,” said Houston-based art collector J.P. Bryan, who was offering them for sale.

Born in Philadelphia in 1870, Parrish lived much of his life in New Hampshire, and was known for his dreamy pictures filled with lush, intense color.

Carting the paintings away would have been no easy task, said Alma Gilbert, curator of the Cornish Colony Museum in New Hampshire.

“This is unprecedented; you would need a moving truck and four people,” Gilbert said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.