Missing 'Picasso' thought found in Romania a hoax, report claims

THE HAGUE - A writer who thought she had found a painting by Pablo Picasso stolen in an infamous art heist six years ago said on Sunday she was the victim of a "publicity stunt", Dutch media reported.

Picasso's Harlequin Head was one of seven celebrated paintings snatched from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam in 2012 during a daring robbery local media dubbed "the theft of the century".

The artworks by Picasso, Monet, Gauguin, Matisse and Lucian Freud have not been seen since.