Currently, these canvases are in the collection of the Moscow Pushkin Museum.
paintings exported by the Red Army during the Second World War. As reported on the website of the Polish agency, the country launched the “Empty Frames” project, which is designed to recall works of art that were taken away by both the Nazis and the Soviet military.
Polish authorities note that the Nazis carried out “planned and systematic looting of Polish state, private and church collections”. At the same time, after the Red Army entered the territory of the country, the so-called trophy brigades began to work. It is impossible to accurately assess the scale of the robbery committed by Soviet soldiers. But, using available methods, the Polish side has already sent Russia 20 applications for the restitution of works of art.
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In recent years, the Ministry of Culture of Poland was able to identify seven more paintings that were exported from the country to Russia. According to the agency, they are in the collection of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.
Among the canvases are “Adoration of the Infant” by Lorenzo di Credi, “Two Sorrowful Saints” by Aretino Spinello, “Christ and the Sinner” by Luca Giordano, “Portrait of the Artist” by Valentin de Boulogne, “Italian Landscape with Staffage” by Andrea Locatelli, “Madonna with the Child and John The Baptist” and “Madonna with a baby on the background of the landscape” by unknown authors.
“Cases of theft of cultural values do not have a statute of limitations – not only in ethical and moral terms, but also in the field of international law. The Polish state will never stop searching for and returning cultural values looted as a result of the Second World War,” said Polish Minister of Culture Piotr Glynski.
As Meduza notes, the Russian Ministry of Culture claims that it did not receive from the Polish parties to official inquiries regarding these seven paintings. In addition, the agency of the aggressor country believes that the issue with the canvases should be resolved in a special order. the actions of Nazi Germany and its allies during the Great Patriotic War,” they said.
