Priceless Madonna with Child painting looted by the Nazis is returned to Poland

A 16th century painting which was looted by Nazis during World War II has been found in Japan and returned to Poland.

The Madonna With Child is attributed to Alessandro Turchi and was part of the collection of Stanislaw Kostka-Potocki, a Polish 18th century aristocrat.

It’s the latest of 600 looted art pieces which Poland has successfully repatriated – though more than 66,000 so-called war losses still remain unaccounted for.

The painting was spotted by Polish culture ministry experts at an auction in Tokyo last year. It had previously been sold at an auction in New York in the 1990s.

Culture minister Piotr Glinski said the painting was on the Nazi’s list of the 521 most valuable artworks they had stolen, among the tens of thousands they looted during their occupation of Poland.

The Madonna With Child was returned following negotiations with the Japanese side, and ‘the 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’.

Poland has been trying to repatriate artwork looted during the war by Nazis and Soviet troops for decades.

Agata Modzelewska, head of the ministry’s department for restitution of culture items, said the Polish side always stresses in negotiations that returning looted art is ‘the best moral and ethical gesture’.

She added: ‘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 now do not have the full knowledge or are not aware of where the artwork is coming from.’

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