Florence museum demands Germany return artwork stolen by Nazis

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence on Tuesday appeals to Berlin for help in retrieving a stolen 18th century Dutch painting from a German family.

“An appeal to Germany for 2019: We wish that the famous ‘Vase of Flowers’ by Dutch painter Jan van Huysum that was stolen by Nazi soldiers be returned to the Uffizi Gallery,” the museum’s German director Eike Schmidt says.

According to Schmidt, the oil painting is “currently held by a German family who, after all this time, has still not returned it to the museum despite many requests by the Italian state.”

Before it was stolen during World War II, the still-life, which measures 47×35 cm (18×14 inches), was part of a collection owned by another well-known Florence museum, the Palazzo Pitti.

After being shipped to Germany the work’s whereabouts remained unknown until 1991, after Germany was reunified, Schmidt says.

Van Huysum was a well-known specialist of still-life paintings, and until this one is returned, “the wounds of the Second World War and Nazi terror will not be healed,” the museum director says.

— AFP