ITALIAN police have recovered an oil painting of a naked woman by French master Pierre-Auguste Renoir stolen from a private collection 33 years ago.

Police were acting on a tip-off from a prominent art critic, Vittorio Sgarbi, who had been contacted by a gallery owner for a valuation of the work.

Police arrested the gallery owner and two other suspects.

The Renoir, worth €500,000 ($877,577), was recovered with a forgery of a work by Edouard Manet.

The Renoir nude was stolen from a Milanese family in 1975. The owner's daughter recognised the authenticity of the work due to the mark of a ball she hit it with in the early 1970s.