German government: the painting stolen by the Nazis belongs to the Uffizi. Be returned

Jan van Huysum ’s Vase of Flowers belongs to the Uffizi. So says Michael Roth, the German foreign minister on the subject of the works stolen by the Nazis, an argument raised by German-Italian Bundestag parliamentarian Fabio De Masi of the Linke group (the left wing of the German government). “It is certainly clear,” the minister said, “that the painting belongs to the Uffizi collection. Within the scope of its responsibilities, the federal government supports the achievement of this goal. In this context, the Foreign Ministry has repeatedly recommended that the painting be voluntarily returned to the Uffizi.”

However, again according to Roth, “it is the responsibility of the judicial authority of the states to examine the admissibility of the seizure of an asset by another judicial authority of an EU member state in criminal proceedings conducted there. The federal government cannot make any assessment and exercise any influence.”

The request to return the van Huysum painting was made in recent weeks by Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt, who, following Roth’s statements, commented, "I am doubly pleased with these political developments on the one hand because the fact that the Vase of Flowers affair has been placed at the center of a parliamentary inquiry testifies to how much the German people also care that the return can succeed. On the other, because the government officially recognizes what we have been advocating for some time: namely, that the rightful home of van Huysum’s masterpiece is in Florence, in the Pitti Palace."

Pictured: Eike Schmidt points to the facsimile of the painting Vase of Flowers marked “stolen.”

German government: the painting stolen by the Nazis belongs to the Uffizi. Be returned

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