Tiepolo painting stolen

An early painting by the 18th-century Italian master Giambattista Tiepolo has been stolen from a small parish church in the centre of Venice, Reuter reports from Venice. A police spokesman said that the thieves probably hid in the church of Santa Maria della Consolazione before it closed on Monday, cut out the huge Tiepolo canvas showing the 'Education of the Virgin' and then let themselves out by the main door.