French customs officers have found an impressionist painting by Edgar Degas stowed on a bus, more than eight years after it was reported stolen. The French Culture Ministry said Friday that customs agents in Marne-la-Vallee were surprised to find a work of art bearing the signature "Degas" inside a suitcase in the bus' luggage compartment. Experts verified the artwork as Degas' "Les Choristes" ("The Chorus Singers"), which depicts a scene from Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni." The painting was stolen from a Marseille museum in 2009 while on loan from Paris' Musee d'Orsay. French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen said she was delighted by the recovery of a work "whose disappearance represented a heavy loss for the French impressionist heritage."

Source: ABC News February 23, 2018 17:54 UTC