The director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is urging Germany to return a Dutch masterpiece stolen by Nazi troops during World War II, dramatizing its absence by hanging a black and white photo of the work with the label B次元官网网址淪tolenB次元官网网址� in three languages.

Eike Schmidt said in a New YearB次元官网网址檚 appeal on Tuesday that the still-life B次元官网网址淰ase of FlowersB次元官网网址� by Dutch artist Jan van Huysum is in the hands of a German family who hasnB次元官网网址檛 returned it despite numerous appeals. Instead, intermediaries for the family have demanded payment for its return to Italy.

B次元官网网址淭he painting is already the inalienable property of the Italian State, and thus cannot be B次元官网网址榖ought,B次元官网网址滲次元官网网址� Schmidt said.

The oil painting had been hanging as part of the Pitti Palace collection in Florence from 1824 until the outbreak of World War II. It was moved for safety during the war but was stolen by retreating German troops. It didnB次元官网网址檛 surface again until GermanyB次元官网网址檚 reunification in 1991, when the offers to sell it back to Italy began.

B次元官网网址淭his story is preventing the wounds inflicted by World War II and the horrors of Nazism from healing,B次元官网网址� said Schmidt, who is German. B次元官网网址淕ermany should not apply the statute of limitations to works of art stolen during the war, and it should take measures to ensure that those works are restored to their legitimate owners.B次元官网网址�

He called it GermanyB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渕oral dutyB次元官网网址� to return to the artwork, adding, B次元官网网址淚 trust that the German government will do so at the earliest opportunity, naturally along with every other work of art stolen by the Nazi Wehrmacht.B次元官网网址�

The Associated Press

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