Remarkable Retrieval: WWII Soldier Restores Stolen Painting to Germany

• A stolen painting was returned to Germany after going missing for over 78 years.
• The FBI recovered the painting after a company enlisted their help in retrieving it from a Chicago resident.
• Someone had previously tried to sell the painting in the Chicago art market in 2011.

A stolen painting belonging to Germany made an extraordinary journey home on Thursday after vanishing for over seven decades, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI restored the painting to a representative of the Alte Pinakothek museum at the German consulate in Chicago. The artwork was initially reported as stolen from the Bavarian State Paintings Collections in Munich in 1945.

It turned out to be the “Landscape of Italian Character” – a masterpiece painted by the Vienna-born artist Johann Franz Nepomuk Lauterer in the early 18th century. According to The Art Newspaper, the painting is over 300 years old. Its value has not been publicly assessed by experts.

Art Recovery International, based in Italy, assisted in recovering the artwork after a Chicago resident informed the company that their late uncle possessed a stolen painting. The resident’s uncle acquired the artwork after serving in World War II.

The individual who tipped off Art Recovery International requested a “finder’s fee” in exchange for the painting. However, the company refused to pay, stating that they do not reward possessors of stolen art. They enlisted the FBI’s art crime team to help retrieve the painting.

According to Christopher Marinello, the founder of Art Recovery International, the same individual had previously attempted to sell the stolen painting in the Chicago art market in 2011.

Alte Pinakothek and researchers at Art Recovery International confirmed that the painting is indeed the original work of Lauterer in 2022. It will be exhibited at the Alte Pinakothek alongside another painting by Lauterer with similar motifs of the Italian countryside, as stated in the museum’s press release.

This is not the first time that stolen paintings have been recovered from US soldiers who served in World War II. In 2015, the FBI retrieved three artworks stolen by US soldiers from a German museum in Dessau.

The FBI has yet to respond to requests for comment sent outside regular office hours.