Nazi-Looted Masterpiece Returned to Jewish Family After 84 Years

After 84 years, a priceless painting torn from a Jewish family by the Nazis is finally going back where it belongs.

In 1940, as Nazi forces swept through Europe, Jewish art collector Samuel Hartveld and his wife fled Antwerp to escape persecution. Left behind was their precious oil painting, “Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Burning Troy”—a 17th-century masterpiece by English artist Henry Gibbs.

For decades, the artwork sat in London’s Tate Britain gallery, bought in 1994 without knowledge of its dark past. But now, thanks to a British government panel, the painting is being returned to Hartveld’s descendants.

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Justice Delayed, But Not Denied

The Spoliation Advisory Panel, a group dedicated to reviewing Nazi-looted art in British collections, investigated the case starting last May. They found that the Hartvelds’ property was stolen purely because they were Jewish—a clear act of racial persecution.

Under a 2009 law, Britain can return Holocaust-related artifacts if the arts minister agrees. This time, the decision was easy: the moral and legal reasons were “obvious.”

A Bittersweet Victory

While this homecoming is a win for justice, it also highlights a bigger issue. Many museums in Britain still hold artifacts taken during colonial rule, and strict laws prevent their return. But for the Hartveld family, this moment is a long-overdue correction of history.

The painting, depicting the Trojan hero Aeneas escaping a burning city, now symbolizes another escape—one from injustice.

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