Tokyo [Japan], July 1 : A priceless painting that Nazi Germany stole from a Polish aristocrat in 1940 has been found in Japan and returned to Poland, as per the Polish Embassy in Japan and a Tokyo-based art auction house, Kyodo News reported.
The painting, "Madonna with Child" by Italian Baroque-Era painter Alessandro Turchi, was handed over to the Polish Embassy in Tokyo in late May at no expense to Poland. However, it is unclear how the piece ended up in the ownership of its previous Japanese owner.
The embassy claims that this is the first time a piece of art that was seized from Poland during Nazi rule has been found in the Far East, as per Kyodo News.
Kyodo News is a news agency based in Minato, Tokyo.
According to Poland's Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the painting has been missing since the 1990s, when it was offered for auction in New York.
The painting's former owner requested that it be sold at auction in the autumn of 2021, according to Mainichi Auction Inc. in Tokyo, which uploaded a picture of the painting online and estimated its value at about 3 million yen (USD 21,000).
The Polish ministry approached the corporation in advance of the auction, which was slated to take place in late January 2022. According to the firm, Polish authorities first claimed that some of the painting's elements did not match those on an old photograph of the stolen artwork that was thought to have been shot in 1939 or 1940, according to Kyodo News.
Later, a Polish team of experts travelled to Japan to verify the authenticity of the painting and that it had been stolen during the Nazi occupation. A UV scan revealed that the original had been painted over in several places.
Yoshiaki Onoyama, Mainichi Auction's official who negotiated with the former Japanese owner for the return of the painting said, "Polish citizens, who give the highest acclaim to Madonna with Child, have once again become its owner."
"There was no financial incentive for us, but I think we got the job done," he added, Kyodo News reported.
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