Mexico arrests man in theft of Leonora Carrington bronzework from church patio

Mexican authorities on Wednesday arrested a man suspected of stealing bronze sculptures, including artwork by famed surrealist Leonora Carrington, from the courtyard of a church in an historic district of the capital.



Mexico City's public safety secretariat SSC said in a statement the 26-year-old man, whose clothing and physical traits matched those of the thief caught on surveillance video, was also suspected of marijuana possession. Potential charges had yet to be determined.



Father Jose de Jesus Aguilar first drew attention to the thefts on social media, posting videos of the artwork missing from San Cosme church's picturesque courtyard sculpture garden.



Surveillance video shared by the priest shows a figure in a pale hoodie climbing onto a low wall and leaning over the shrubbery towards one of the statues then wresting it off its plinth by swinging it back and forth.



The stolen artifacts include Carrington's "Black Dog," a mystical guardian crafted using an ancient metal-casting technique; a bronze statue by sculptor Cesar Ruiz Cureño inspired by Remedios Varo's surrealist painting "Woman Leaving the Psychoanalyst;" and an untitled sculpture of a winged angel embracing a child.