Italy's Uffizi Demands Return of Nazi-Looted Painting

Image: The Uffizi’s Eike Schmidt with a framed poster of Vase of Flowers with the word ‘stolen’ in three languages. Photograph: AP, source the Guardian

Italy’s Uffizi Galleries called on Germany on Tuesday to return a still-life painting by the Dutch master Jan van Huysum, which was looted by retreating Nazi troops in World War Two. 

“Germany has a moral duty to return this painting to our museum,” said Uffizi chief Eike Schmidt, who is himself German. “This story is preventing the wounds inflicted by World War Two and the horrors of Nazism from healing.”

The Uffizi’s Eike Schmidt with a framed poster of Vase of Flowers with the word ‘stolen’ in three languages. Photograph: AP, The Guardian

The “Vase of Flowers” painting, worth millions of dollars, was originally put on display in Florence in 1824 after it was bought by Grande Duke Leopoldo II for his art collection. 

The oil canvas hung in the city’s Pitti Palace until 1940, when it was evacuated to a nearby village following the outbreak of World War Two. Three years later it was seized by German troops and eventually taken to Germany where it only resurfaced following German reunification in 1991 in the hands of a family.