Britain to return artwork stolen by Nazis to Jewish family

A 17th-century artwork taken by the Nazis in 1940 from a Jewish art collector in Belgium will be returned to his heirs after three decades in a gallery in London, the British government announced on Saturday.

Samuel Hartveld and his spouse were among those fleeing Nazi oppression as they departed from Antwerp, abandoning several possessions, including the oil-on-canvas painting “Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Burning Troy”. However, after an evaluation by a British advisory group that investigates allegations of Nazi loot, the government instructed that the artwork be returned to Hartveld’s descendants and great-grandchildren.

The 1654 painting by English artist Henry Gibbs illustrates the legendary tale of Aeneas, a Trojan hero, fleeing with his family following the Greek invasion of Troy through the deceit of the Trojan Horse.

Acquired by London’s Tate Britain gallery in 1994, the artwork will be transferred again after the independent Spoliation Advisory Panel sanctioned its repatriation following a review that commenced last May.

In 2000, a 10-member panel was established to review claims from individuals regarding lost cultural items from the Nazi period that are presently held in British public collections. A law enacted in 2009 permits British institutions to return artifacts connected to the Holocaust and Nazi era, contingent on the arts minister’s concurrence with the panel’s advice.

However, other regulations prevent the largest museums in Britain from permanently returning artifacts, many of which have long been the subject of repatriation requests from foreign nations due to claims they were looted or taken by force during British colonial rule.