FBI agents in Miami have recovered a painting they believe is a Henri Matisse canvas stolen from a Venezuelan museum approximately a decade ago.

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice officials announced on Wednesday the arrest of two suspects —Pedro Antonio Marcuello Guzman of Miami and Maria Martha Elisa Ornelas Lazo of Mexico City — for transporting and possessing stolen goods.

If convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, according to an FBI statement.

Valued at $3 million US, the recovered work is believed to be the 1925 Matisse painting Odalisque in Red Pants (Odalisque à la culotte rouge).

The painting was recovered in an undercover operation in which agents posed as art collectors. They attempted to buy the artwork from the suspects for $740,000 US in Miami Beach this week.

In 2003, the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art (formerly the Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum) discovered that their version of Odalisque in Red Pants had been replaced by a forgery, after being tipped off by a collector who saw notice of the work being offered for sale in New York.

"Upon inspection by the undercover agents, the painting appeared consistent with the original Henri Matisse painting reported stolen from the MACCSI museum," the statement said.

Paintings by modernist master Matisse continue to command high prices at international art auctions and his works are among those frequently targeted by thieves.