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London’s Tate Gallery is to return a 17th century artwork to the owner’s heirs after it was found that the painting had been looted by Nazis.
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 02 Apr 2025
London’s Tate Gallery is to return a 17th century artwork to the owner’s heirs after it was found that the painting had been looted by Nazis.
A new Spoliation Advisory Panel report on the painting, Henry Gibb’s Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Burning Troy, includes new evidence regarding the painting’s provenance and has recommended restitution to the heirs of Jewish-Belgian art collector Samuel Hartveld.
The artwork was acquired by the gallery from the Galerie Jan de Maere in Brussels, Belgium, in 1994.
In May 2024, 30 years after the Tate’s acquisition of the painting, the Spoliation Advisory Panel received a claim from the Sonia Klein Trust requesting the artwork’s return to Hartveld’s heirs.
The panel concluded that extensive research by Sonia Klein Trust’s legal representatives, sufficiently supported the family’s claims for the painting’s return.
Tate director Maria Balshaw has described the work’s restitution as a “profound privilege.”
The return will be arranged in the coming months, with the family having been invited to a presentation at the Tate to receive the painting.
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