Robert De Niro should have kept a closer eye on his dad’s stuff, say alternate jurors in a Manhattan art theft case.

The actor erred in his hands-off entrusting of the paintings of his late father — noted abstract artist Robert De Niro, Sr. — to the Salander-O’Reilly gallery, two alternate jurors said today as they were released from the grand larceny trial of gallery director Leigh Morse.

But De Niro’s negligence still doesn’t excuse Morse from selling two of the paintings to a San Francisco gallery for $77,000 in 2007 without notifying the actor, who administered his dad’s estate, the alternates said.

“I blamed him in part for not looking after his father’s property,” said alternate Mary Granado, a public school food service worker from the Upper West Side. “But that doesn’t give anyone the right to steal from him.”

Granado said she would have convicted Morse of conspiring with gallery owner Lawrence Salander to rip off art owners, but still would have acquitted Morse of grand larceny for the De Niro paintings because there was no proof De Niro wouldn’t have eventually been compensated.

A second alternate, Mike Lee, of Inwood, said he would have convicted Morse of both stealing and scheming — and that he was not “starstruck” by the actor’s testimony two weeks ago.

“I thought it was a bit anti-climactic,” Lee said.

The second day of deliberations is set to begin tomorrow. Morse faces anywhere from probation up to seven years prison if convicted; Salander is serving at least six years prison after admitting to a $120 million larceny scheme.