The bronze statue is the art gallery's centrepiece

The life-sized statue of a girl is the work of sculptor David Williams-Ellis and was a gift to Plas Glyn-y-Weddw gallery from prominent Welsh artist, Kyffin Williams.

Thieves sawed off the 42kg piece which was bolted onto a three-ton rock with a foot-long screw in the gardens of the gallery near Llanbedrog on the Llyn Peninsula on Thursday night.

Louise is 32 inches high and is valued at �25,000 but the gallery says she means much more to them as they decided to rebrand the centre after receiving the gift and made her their official logo.

The theft was discovered when staff arrived for work on Friday morning.

She means more to us than the cost - she is a symbol of the gallery Jilli Whipp, Plas Glyn-y-Weddw

"I realised as soon as I arrived - there was just this great big gap in front of the house. She just wasn't there," said stunned gallery secretary, Jilli Whipp.

"When Kyffin Williams announced he was donating the piece during an exhibition of his work last November we were delighted and decided to rebrand the gallery around the statue.

"Louise became our centre point and we redesigned our logo, based on her.

"She is on all our invites, letters, literature and our website.

"She means more to us than the cost," added Ms Whipp.

Plas Glyn-y-weddw gallery is one of the main art centres of north west Wales

"She is a symbol of the gallery and of the future of Glyn-y-Weddw."

Kyffin Williams was adamant that the statue should stay in Wales whatever happened to the gallery.

That is why Mrs Whipp is now desperately trying to get in touch with antiques magazines and arts publications to let as many people as possible know about the theft.

"The police tell me that items like this are shipped out very quickly," she said.

"It is a very collectable piece for someone to place in their garden.

"I don't know how much hope there is of getting her back."

The statue was only placed in the gardens in March and had been housed in the gallery before that.