PROVIDENCE — The battle over ownership of three stolen paintings valued at $1 million has ended.

A consent agreement reached last week in U.S. District Court calls for the artwork taken in an armed home invasion in central Massachusetts in 1976 to be handed over to the estate of Judith Yoffie, of Worcester.

The original owner of the oil paintings, Mae Persky, received $45,000 for the loss of the paintings from an insurance company now known as the OneBeacon Insurance Co.

Persky died in August 1979 and left her estate to William and Judith Yoffie. Today, Judith Yoffie is the sole surviving heir.

Over time, the value of the paintings surged to roughly $1 million. They are: In the Sun, by Childe Hassam, an American impressionist; The Shore of Lake Geneva, by Gustave Courbet, a French realist; and Lady of Shepherdess, by William Hamilton, an American painter known for California landscapes.

In March 2007, the paintings caught the attention of William Vareika, a Newport art dealer. At the time, Patrick T. Conley, a well-known Rhode Island lawyer, historian and developer, brought the paintings to Varieka to have them appraised.

Varieka researched the artwork and learned from the Art Dealer Association database that the paintings had been stolen from Persky more than three decades ago. He immediately contacted the FBI and agents seized the paintings.

Conley, in an interview with The Journal last February, said he did not know the paintings were stolen and had no idea of their value. In fact, he said that he didn’t really care for the art and hung only two of the pieces in his waterfront home in Bristol.

He got the paintings from his younger brother, William Lincoln Conley Jr., an antiques dealer who runs Upscale Emporium, in Barrington. Patrick Conley said the paintings were on a $22,000 loan that he gave to his brother in 1999.

Conley said his brother never repaid the loan.

“I don’t think my brother realized they were real, either,” he said last winter. “If he thought they were real, he’s not going to leave a million dollars in my possession.”

Conley also said he deserved a reward for turning over the paintings. It appears that he got his wish: Conley said that, as part of the settlement, he received a reward, though the terms of the agreement prohibit him from disclosing the amount. The agreement also states that OneBeacon Insurance has also resolved its claims and agreed to have the paintings turned over to the Yoffie estate.

On Feb. 19, the office of Robert Clark Corrente, the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island, filed a civil action in federal court seeking to return the paintings to their rightful owners. That action resulted in last week’s settlement.

The robbery, which took place around midnight July 2, 1976, was spectacular in its brazenness.

Three intruders, dressed in black and armed with handguns, broke into the Shrewsbury, Mass., house of Persky, wife of the former president of the Worcester Knitting Co.

Persky was asleep in the house. Others inside were the caretaker, Owen McHugh, and Teresa Oswalt, a nurse companion, who also lived there. The thieves clipped the phone lines, making it impossible for anyone in the house to call the police. They spent more than two hours ransacking the house and grabbing valuables including the paintings.

They loaded their take into McHugh’s car and drove off. A day later, the car was found abandoned in Franklin, Mass.

The stolen goods were never recovered, and no one was arrested in connection with the heist.

All that changed last winter, when Conley contacted the art dealer.

Asked whether he is out of the art business, Patrick Conley said, “I was never actually in it. This was kind of a hurried transaction [with my brother]. All’s well that ends well.”

bmalinow@projo.com