A painting by Alessandro Turchi stolen by the Nazis returns to Poland. It had ended up in Japan

Back to Poland is a painting by Alessandro Turchi (Verona, 1578 - Rome, 1649) that had been stolen by the Nazis during World War II and ended up in Japan. It is a Madonna and Child that the Land of the Rising Sun returned to Poland in a ceremony held May 31 at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Tokyo.

The work, before the war, was located in the Lubomirski Palace in Przeworsk, a city of about 15,000 inhabitants not far from the Ukrainian border and Lviv. The painting had been auctioned in January 2022 at the Mainichi Auction Inc. house. Soon after, an employee of the Department for the Restitution of Cultural Property of Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage had noticed the sale and immediately had a dialogue initiated with the auction house aimed at determining the painting’s provenance and identifying its identity. Polish experts conducted an inspection, and then delivered to the Japanese side an application for its return and an analysis confirming the identity of the image. The work thus returns to Poland under an agreement concluded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage with the Japanese auction house. Turks’ Madonna and Child is the first Polish work lost during World War II to be found in the Far East.

“We immediately got in touch with the auction house,” said Polish Culture Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Piotr GliÅ„ski, “but given the pandemic period it was difficult. Cultural and historical issues also proved to be an obstacle. However, thanks to our work and experience, everything went smoothly.” The minister pointed out that Mainichi Auction Inc. after learning the history of the work and its fate, in agreement with the painting’s owner decided to return the work to Poland at no cost.

The story of Turks’ Madonna and Child is similar to the story of many other war losses. The work appeared on a list compiled in 1940 by a German official, one of the greatest criminals against Polish culture, Kajetan Mühlmann, which included 521 of the most valuable objects taken by the Nazis from Poland, including Leonardo da Vinci’sLady with an Ermine. Immediately after the war most of the works on this list returned to Poland. Subsequently only one painting by Francesco Guardi returned. Turchi’s Madonna and Child , however, is the second on the list to return long after the war.

Deputy Prime Minister GliÅ„ski pointed out that the painting was probably transported to Germany in 1940, then appeared at an auction in New York and then went to Japan. It was in the collection of Princes Lubomirski in Przeworsk: the earliest known archival document confirming the presence of the painting titled Madonna and Child is an 1823 “List of oil paintings, engravings, medallions and arms in the palace of Henryk Lubomirski in Przeworsk.” The document indicates the previous owner of the work, StanisÅ‚aw Kostka Potocki. Most likely, Potocki acquired the painting during one of his many trips to Italy between 1772 and 1797. At the outbreak of World War II, the painting was in the Lubomirski Palace in Przeworsk, then under German occupation. The Przeworsk collection consisted of a picture gallery, a sculpture collection, an armory, and a family archive. During World War II the painting was transported to Germany, where traces of it were lost.

Now the painting will most likely be handed over to the future Princes Lubomirski Museum, currently under construction in Wroclaw. First, however, the work may be displayed at the Przeworsk Regional Museum. “The painting looks beautiful,” said GliÅ„ski, who thanked all those who helped return the work to Poland, especially employees of the Department for the Restitution of Cultural Property of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. “Thanks to their work, practically every week or two we can inform about newly recovered works of art, war losses returning to our country. It should be emphasized that each case of return is different, as is the legal situation, which is why we have to deal with this situation differently each time. This time the negotiations led to a happy ending.”

A painting by Alessandro Turchi stolen by the Nazis returns to Poland. It had ended up in Japan

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