Lost Picasso found by French police

PARIS - French police have recovered a painting by Pablo Picasso which disappeared a year ago from a workshop belonging to the Pompidou Centre in Paris, officials said Friday.
"Nature morte a la charlotte," a small Cubist work completed in 1924, was last seen in the workshop where it was being restored in January last year, and its disappearance was reported in May.
After a tip-off police traced the painting -- valued at 2.5 million euros (3.2 million dollars) -- to a house in the Paris suburb of Antony, where it had been hidden behind a wardrobe.
The work -- a still-life in shades of brown and blue centred round a tart on a plate -- was handed over Friday to the president of the Pompidou Centre, Bruno Racine.

04/08/2005 11:13 GMT