Two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir that were stolen from a museum on the French Riviera last month have been recovered, and six people have been arrested in connection with the theft. The works, Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano from 1910 and Young Woman at the Well from 1886, were taken from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, the house where the painter spent his final years. Together they were valued at about $10 million, and both belong to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, which had lent them to the museum. The break-in took place in the early hours of September 8. Two intruders entered the artist's former home and tried to carry off four paintings, but dropped two of them in the garden as they fled. The pair that remained missing stayed unaccounted for for about a month before officials confirmed their recovery. A press conference that was expected to give more detail was called off so as not to interfere with the continuing investigation, and the Marseille prosecutor's office did not immediately say how the pictures were found. The mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer welcomed the news as a source of immense joy and great relief, describing the paintings as part of the town's history and cultural heritage. France's culture minister praised the investigators' efficiency and determination, and singled out the speed of the local police response after the alarm was triggered. The case lands amid a run of museum thefts in France. The most prominent was the daylight robbery at the Louvre last October, in which jewels worth about $102 million were taken, a shock that led the museum to announce a $92 million security overhaul. Against that background, the return of the two Renoirs offers a rare piece of good news. Renoir himself remains a box-office draw: the National Gallery in London has sold more than 22,000 tickets for its Renoir and Love exhibition, which runs through January 31.