Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
This 200-year-old oil painting which hung in the German Royal Palace and is believed to have been stolen by a British soldier during World War II is to finally be returned to its palace home.
The painting, called ‘Maria with a Child’, was sold to German auctioneer Christian Grundel, 48, for a four-number sum in the German city of Bremen as reported earlier this week.
Christian, who is an art dealer in the Bolland and Marotz auction house in Bremen, was surprised when the painting was offered to him by a random seller.
The man claimed the precious art had been hanging on a wall in his later mother’s bedroom for decades before it was sold to Christian. The exact sum was not reported.
It is unknown how the painting ended up in the deceased woman’s bedroom as it had previously hung on the walls of the German Royal Palace.
Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Researcher Ulrike Schmiegel-Rietig said: “It [the painting] probably hung in a private room and belonged to the German Emperor and his family.”
Ulrike went on to explain it was most likely stolen by a British soldier saying: “The British Army had its administration in the Royal Palace. Presumably, an English soldier took it with him.”
He said the only other alternative was a German thief but he believed it was probably one of the occupying troops.
Maria with a Child was created in the early 1800s by an anonymous painter. It belonged to the German Emperor and was hung in one of the private rooms of the German Royal Palace.
It disappeared without a trace when the Allied bombings started in Berlin and shortly before Nazy Germany’s surrender in May 1945.
Christian said he had passed it on as a gift and added the painting is “coming home again”, all the palace’s Board of Trustees have to do is decide where to hang the 200-year-old oil painting.
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