New Orleans: A painting by Louisiana artist George Rodrigue with an estimated value of $250,000 that depicts the artist as a blue dog beside his bride on their wedding day was stolen on Tuesday from a gallery in New Orleans, the artist`s son said.
The 1997 painting "Wendy and Me" was hanging in the Rodrigue Studio in New Orleans` French Quarter when a man took it off the wall and absconded with it in a theft that took no more than 10 seconds, said Jacques Rodrigue, the artist`s son, who helps manage his late father`s art.
"This is not a piece that would have ever been sold," said Rodrigue. "We`re really anxious to get it back."
The gallery has shared video footage of the theft with New Orleans police, Rodrigue said. Police are in the early stages of their investigation, a police spokesman said.
George Rodrigue rose to prominence in the 1990s with his series of paintings depicting blue dogs based on a Cajun legend of a werewolf or ghost dog threatening to haunt naughty children.
He died in 2013 at age 69 of complications from cancer, his son said.