An art thief stole a painting in a bold heist at a top Moscow gallery on Sunday, lifting the work off the wall and walking away with it through crowds of onlookers.

CCTV footage captured the moment when a man took the painting by Arkhip Kuindzhi off the wall at the Tretyakov Gallery and walked away casually, unchallenged by visitors.

The £760,000 painting, Ai Petri.Crimea, which has since been re-obtained by the police, depicts a mountain in the Crimean Peninsula.

“Thank God, thanks to the energetic efforts of our law enforcement officers, the painting was found quickly and efficiently," said Dmitry Peskov, president Vladimir Putin’s press-secretary.

On Monday, the Russian authorities said the 31-year-old thief had been arrested.

According to Russian newspaper, Kommersant, Mr Denis Chuprikov was found in a small village in the wider Moscow region where the painting had been hidden in a house, which is still under construction.