An author who travelled 1,250 miles from Holland to Romania to recover an alleged stolen Picasso painting was furious to discover it was a PR stunt.

The supposed discovery of Pablo Picasso's Tete d'Arlequin hit news headlines around the world after author Mira Feticu received an anonymous letter purporting to state where it was buried.

The famous artwork was stolen from the Kunsthal Museum, in Rotterdam, with six other paintings in 2012.

But after digging up the painting and handing it over to authorities, Ms Feticu was devastated to discover it was a hoax, planted by a theatre troupe to promote their next show.

Ms Feticu, who published a book in 2015 about the theft, received an anonymous letter 10 days ago which explained the Picasso artwork was buried next to a tree in Greci, Tulcea, in Romania.

The famous artwork was stolen from the Kunsthal Museum, in Rotterdam, in 2012 (
Image:
CEN/Kunsthal)

She travelled to the village with Dutch journalist Frank Westerman and dug up the painting which they handed over to the Dutch Embassy, in Bucharest.

But experts immediately doubted the drawing's authenticity.

Curator Peter van Beveren said there were "too many discrepancies".

He said: "The stripes, the colours, the details, it is not correct. On the basis of what I see I think it is a forgery. A good one though."

Belgian theatre makers Bart Baele and Yves Degryse have now admitted the artwork is a fake.

It was planted in Romania as part of a PR stunt to promote their new show True Copy, which is dedicated to the Dutch forger Geert Jan Jansen, whose forgeries flooded art galleries across Europe until he was caught in 1994.

Ms Feticu received the anonymous letter 10 days ago (
Image:
CEN/@Mira Feticu)

Ms Feticu said: "It is a bizarre story. They want to sit down with us to say sorry, but I don't know if I can do that. I first have to control my anger.

"Pranks have their limits. We flew with the two of us to Romania, dug up an artwork, did not sleep for two nights, I have cried, laughed, sat for hours with the police, it is unbelievable.

"When I read their email with their notice that it was all a stunt I became angry."

Four Romanians were jailed in 2014 for the 2012 heist but none of the artworks have ever been recovered.