A magnificent 16th-century Italian artwork that was stolen by Nazi Germany during World War II has reportedly been discovered and returned to Poland, according to authorities there.
Poland’s WARSAW Polish authorities said Wednesday that a rare 16th-century Italian artwork that Nazi Germany took and was later found in Japan has been returned to Poland.
Alessandro Turchi’s “Madonna with Child” is the most recent of almost 600 stolen works of art that Poland has successfully returned. More over 66,000 alleged war casualties are still missing. On Wednesday, the painting was presented during a ceremony at Poland’s embassy in Tokyo.
The baroque picture was listed by the Nazis as one of the 521 most priceless works of art among the tens of thousands of artefacts they stole while they controlled Poland between 1939 and 1945, according to Culture Minister Piotr Glinski, who spoke to media in Warsaw.
She remarked that it was “not easy” to describe the background of the stolen artwork and the necessity for their restitution. However, he said that following discussions with the Japanese side, the “Madonna with Child” was returned, and that “Mainichi Auction Inc. as well as the person who was in possession of the painting have decided to return it to Poland, without any costs.”
According to Agata Modzelewska, director of the ministry’s division for restitution of cultural property, the Polish side always emphasises in discussions that restoring stolen art is “the best moral and ethical gesture.”
Ministry specialists recognised the picture during a Tokyo auction in 2022. It originates from a collection owned by Polish aristocrat Stanislaw Kostka-Potocki in the 18th century. The picture was recorded in the municipality of Przeworsk, Poland, in 1823 with artwork owned by another Polish nobility, Henryk Lubomirski. It was plundered throughout the conflict and sold at an auction in New York in the late 1990s.
According to Modzelewska, who spoke to The Associated Press, “more and more of the looted objects are appearing at auctions because the memory (of their past) has weakened and the persons who are in their possession right now do not have the full knowledge or are unaware of where the artwork is coming from.”
Poland has been aggressively pursuing the return of art that was plundered during the war by Nazi and Soviet forces.
