[MSN] Costa Rica. A hole was left in the art collection at the National Museum in San José after a 19th century piece called "Casa de Campo" by German artist Emilio Span was apparently stolen, according to a statement from the museum.

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Painting Stolen From National Museum 

A hole was left in the art collection at the National Museum in San José
after a 19th century piece called “Casa de Campo” by German artist Emilio
Span was apparently stolen, according to a statement from the museum.

The piece measured 20 centimeters tall by 25 centimeters wide and was
surrounded by a dark gold frame. As its name implies, it depicts a house in
a natural setting. It was on display alongside two other pieces: “La Niña,”
by Francisco Zúñiga, and “ Paisaje Rural,” by Fausto Pacheco.

The painting has been missing since July 20, but its disappearance was not
made public until the daily La Nación published an article on it Friday.

The museum has no idea how the painting, worth $8,000, could have
disappeared, the daily reported. Museum guard Enrique Alvarado said he
noticed it was missing on July 20 in the afternoon, after administrative
workers had left, and he did not report this anomaly until the following
Tuesday.

Museum authorities then asked the guard to go, unaccompanied, to the
Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) to file a report. The report he filed
did not include the name of the painting or the artist who produced it.

OIJ is investigating the case “very seriously because the painting has
patrimonial value... despite the way the case has been treated as if it were
a box of cookies or a refrigerator that was stolen,” OIJ press chief
Francisco Ruiz told La Nación.

The museum is asking anyone with information on the painting's disappearance
to call 221-4429 or 291-3517. Officials have stepped up security by not
allowing guests to enter with large bags, the statement said.

About 25 of Emilio Span's paintings are housed at the National Museum. The
artist was born in January 1869 in Germany, and he arrived to Costa Rica in
1906, where he studied art. He completed his most well-known works during
the 1930s, using a realist style with great detail.

Most of his works are of flowers, portraits and landscapes. He was inspired
by Costa Rica's nature to paint a large quantity of orchids. He died here in
1944. 

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