•  Adriaen Brouwer (1605/6-1638)

Peasants in an Inn

Oil, copper plate 17.5 x 23 cm.

The painting was acquired in 1933 by the National Museum in Warsaw from the Strauss collection in Vienna and was listed in the Museum inventory under the number 76484. Until World War II it was exhibited at the Museum.

Due to its high artistic value, the Germans - immediately after occupying Warsaw - selected the painting for removal to the Reich, as indicated by its listing in the catalog Sichergestellte Kunstwerke im Generalgouvernement , published in Breslau in 1940 (it listed 521 works of art from public and private collections in the "General Government" - i.e. occupied Poland - selected for a museum in Linz being created by Hitler). Museum records indicate that Brouwer's work was transported to the Reich.

After the war ended, the painting could not be located during a restitution search in the occupation zones of Germany. Hence, its listing in Katalog obrazów wywiezionych z Polski przez okupantów niemieckich w latach 1939-1945 (Catalog of paintings removed from Poland by the German occupiers in the years 1939-1945 compiled by Władysław Tomkiewicz and published in 1949).

The picture surfaced in 1997 at Christie's in London. It was then purchased

by the well-known art dealer Johnny van Haeften, who resold it to a French collector. It was identified at that time by specialists from the National Museum, who mistook it for a copy of the Warsaw painting because of differences between its pre-war photo and the photo in the auction catalogue. Further analysis, however showed that the differences might have been caused by conservation works. Subsequently the National Museum asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help in recovery of the work. Efforts by the Polish Embassy in London, which used the appropriate documentation, led to van Haeften buying back the picture and returning it to its rightful owner. At present, it is the only painting by Adriaen Brouwer in Polish public collections.