Frans Hals: Old master painting stolen for third time from Dutch gallery

Local mayor appeals for information after work taken in small hours

Franz Hals's 17th century masterpiece (inset) has been stolen for the third time from a Leerdam gallery (EPA)

A 17th century painting by Dutch master Frans Hals has been stolen for the third time from the same art museum in the town of Leerdam.

The alarm sounded in the small gallery at 3.30am on Wednesday and police arrived on the scene shortly after, but they were too late: Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer was gone again.

Thieves had apparently forced the back door open, taken the painting, which experts say is worth millions of pounds, and made their escape, Dutch police said.

Wednesday's incident follows two previous thefts of the work in 2011 and 1988, which art-crime detective Arthur Brand said were similar in style.

This did not seem to be an elaborate heist, said Mr Brand, who has recovered artworks thought to be collectively worth more than £100m. The museum is small and the thieves are quick.

"The alarm goes, but those guys are gone in three minutes," he told The New York Times.

There has been a pattern in recent Dutch art thefts, Mr Brand said. Thieves have stolen masterpieces in order to sell them on to criminals such as drug kingpins who may go on to use them as leverage against Dutch authorities to reduce a prison sentence, he said.

Mr Brand reckoned Hals's painting was targeted because the previous thefts led the perpetrators to assume it "must be important".

After the 2011 theft, the painting was found roughly six months later. After 1988, it was missing for three years.

All three thefts have taken place at Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden, also known as Het Hofje, a small art museum in Leerdam, south of Antwerp.

“It's very difficult to secure small museums as it costs too much money. If they want to have your stuff, they'll get in,”​ Mr Brand told the BBC.

In March, a Vincent van Gogh painting was stolen from the Singer Laren, another small Dutch art museum. The theft was audacious, with CCTV footage showing a man smashing his way to the multi-million pound painting with a sledgehammer before leaving through the gift shop.

Sjors Frohlich, mayor of Leerdam's municipality, lamented the theft of Hals's "beautiful work" on Twitter and asked people to contact police if they had seen or heard anything.

"Hopefully the painting will soon be back in Het Hofje, where it belongs," he wrote.