MILAN (AP) – the director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence called on Germany to return a Dutch masterpiece stolen by Nazi troops during the second world war, dramatizing his absence co n a white photo and tagged hung paint black “stolen” in several languages. The “Vase of flowers” still life of the Dutch painter Jan van Huysum is in the hands of a German family that has not returned despite numerous requests, said Eike Schmidt on Tuesday. Instead, intermediaries of the family asked for money in Exchange for his return to Italy.
“Painting already is the inalienable property of the Italian State and, therefore, can not be purchased,” said Schmidt.
Oil was part of the collection exhibited at the Pitti Palace in Florence from 1824 until the start of the second world war. During the conflict he was moved for security reasons, and then looted by German troops during their retreat. Not reappeared until the reunification of Germany in 1991, when they began the offers to sell it back to Italy.
In this image provided by the Press Office of the Uffizi Gallery on Tuesday, January 1, 2019, the director of the Museum, Eike Schmidt, next to a picture of the still life “Vase of flowers” by the Dutch artist Jan van Huysum with the word “stolen” in different languages in the ga LERIA in Florence, Italy. Schmidt called on Germany to return the masterpiece stolen by Nazi troops during World War II, which is in the hands of a German family that has not delivered it despite numerous requests. (Press Office of the Uffizi Gallery via AP)
“This story is avoiding, to heal the wounds inflicted by World War II and the horrors of Nazism,” said Schmidt, who is German. “Germany the prescription of charges should not be applied to works of art stolen during the war, and must take steps to ensure that such works be returned to their legitimate owners.” He called the return of the work as a “moral duty” of Germany, and added: “I trust that the German Government will do so as soon as possible, naturally alongside each work of art stolen by the nazi Wehrmacht”.
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