The size of an $18,000 painting was the downfall of two clumsy burglars, who police say are now facing felony theft charges for their botched attempt at robbery.

Two men are in custody after they allegedly tried to steal a painting hanging outside a popular cafe inside the downtown tunnel system but were foiled when the 6-foot-by-6-foot painting proved too big for a doorway.

The suspected art thieves struck about 12:45 a.m. Friday outside the Alonti Cafe at 600 Travis. According to Victor Senties, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department, the pair removed the Joan Steinman painting from the wall and carried it up a stairwell leading out of the tunnel. A security guard spotted them and called HPD.

Senties said the picture became stuck in the doorway as the men tried to take it outside. The thieves walked away, leaving the painting wedged in the door.

When officers arrived, they reviewed surveillance video of the heist. They were at the scene when the two men later returned to the purloined painting. Recognizing them from the videotape, the officers nabbed them.

'Art-loving hearts'

Gremillion & Co. Fine Art Vice President Harwood Taylor, who represents Steinman and spoke on her behalf, found both humor and flattery in the burglary gone wrong. He said the painting police say the two men tried to steal is a landscape portrait of Steinman's memories from France and California and is valued between $18,000 and $20,000.

"It is very curious to me who would steal a painting that size from a highly secure building, or a seemingly highly secure building," Taylor said. "It is not a very sneaky thing to do. They were very clumsy thieves."

Taylor said because the thieves could have made money off the painting only by selling it to a gallery or at an art auction, something that can't be done with stolen artwork, he assumes they wanted it for themselves.

"The thieves were at least romantics - they must have appreciated good art and wanted something good for themselves," Taylor said. "That was what warmed my heart about it. They were maybe clumsy, fool-hearted thieves, but they had genuine art-loving hearts."

Steinman the optimist

Steinman was born in Beaumont and got her master's of fine arts from Indiana University. She also studied art at many other universities, ranging from UT-San Antonio to St. Mary's College in Rome. Her work is on display mostly throughout Texas, but it also has found homes in Virginia and Washington. Taylor described Steinman's artwork as "optimistic" and "romantic."

"You would enjoy having a portrait of me and I would enjoy having a portrait of you - not because we might know each other, but because of how well she captures a person," Taylor said. "She is an internal optimistic. And the paintings reflect that. Everything is full of light."

Taylor said the owners of the Alonti Cafe originally commissioned a series of paintings from Steinman in the early '90s. He said it is unusual for her to paint on 6-foot-by-6-foot canvases.

The Alonti Cafe manager refused to comment on the incident. The two men authorities identified as suspects are Austin Brown, 24, and Juan Noriega, 25. They have not been formally charged yet but have a pending charge of felony theft and were still in police custody as of Friday afternoon.