The restitution took place 77 years after the theft.
A 17th century painting by Nicolas Poussin, stolen from its owners in France in 1944 by the Nazis, was found in Italy and returned to its owners, Italian gendarmes announced on Thursday.
The painting by the French painter is entitled "Lot with his two daughters serving him a drink".
This is a 120cm by 150cm oil painting.
It was stolen while, during World War II (1939-1945), soldiers from Nazi Germany occupied the house of the legitimate owners of the painting in Poitiers (Vienne).
È stata restituita dai #Carabinieri del #TPC ai legittimi proprietari opera di Nicolas Poussin trafugata dalle truppe di occupazione tedesche dall'abitazione di una famiglia ebrea during the Second World War.
#PossiamoAiutarvi pic.twitter.com/oeZhG4zqpa
- Arma dei Carabinieri (@_Carabinieri_) April 1, 2021
The owners began researching the painting in 1946 and the work was listed in 1947 in the “Directory of property spoliated in France during the 1939-1945 war”.
The investigation was relaunched in 2020 when the heirs, a 98-year-old Swiss woman and a 65-year-old American, filed a complaint through their Italian lawyer.
The painting exhibited in 2019 in the Netherlands
A unit of Italian law enforcement, carabinieri, specializing in the protection of cultural heritage then managed to find the painting, whose journey through Europe in the decades following its theft is difficult to follow.
In 2017, the painting was bought in France by an Italian antique dealer, who then sold it to another antique dealer, also Italian.
The latter exhibited it in 2019 in the Netherlands and it was during this exhibition that a Dutch art expert living in Italy recognized this painting.
The riflemen then set out on the trail of the painting and finally found it at the home of the antiquarian near Padua, in northeastern Italy.
The work was seized and returned to its rightful owners.
The date and place of this return have not been specified.
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), one of the greatest classical masters of French painting, is best known for medium-sized paintings intended for a few Italian or French amateurs to whom he remained faithful throughout his life.
Left to live in Rome, his fame allowed him to become the king's painter and to return to France.
But he preferred to return to Rome where he resided until his death.
