MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Experts have already inspected Arkhip Kuindzhi’s painting "Ai-Petri. Crimea" and have not doubt that it is authentic, Head of the Russian Culture Ministry’s Museum Department Vladislav Kononov told TASS on Tuesday.

"As far as I know, experts have already seen the painting and they have no doubts," he said.

Kononov added that experts were more concerned about the painting’s condition. "Experts are more concerned about preserving the painting after it was exposed to freezing temperatures," he said.

Museum theft

The painting titled "Ai-Petri. Crimea" by Arkhip Kuindzhi was stolen from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow on January 27 but was recovered the next day. The painting comes from the collection of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and was brought to Moscow for an exhibition of Kuindzhi’s masterpieces. The 39 by 53 cm painting in oil on canvas and paper dates back to the 1890s.

Security measures at the State Tretyakov Gallery were stepped up following the incident. Kononov said there were plans to install digital sensors on all paintings in the gallery.

Kuindzhi’s painting is the second work of art that disappeared from a Moscow museum in the past week. Earlier reports said that a 16th-century icon was missing from Moscow’s State Historical Museum.

The theft is the second major incident occurring at the Tretyakov Gallery in the past eight months. In May 2018, a man damaged Ilya Repin’s masterpiece titled "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581." The picture is still being restored.