The tiny painting still missing from the villa’s convoy
German soldiers cleared hundreds of paintings from a Tuscan shelter. Most were recovered. A copper panel small enough to hold in one hand remains missing.
A seventeenth-century oil on copper, barely 22 centimetres high, belonged to the Palatine Gallery at Florence’s Palazzo Pitti. The gallery’s records identify it as inventory 282 and the work is assigned to the school of Anthony van Dyck. During the war it was evacuated to the Villa Bossi-Pucci at Montagnana.
German soldiers arrived on 3 July 1944 and loaded 291 paintings onto trucks, according to the foundation. Florence’s superintendent Giovanni Poggi learned that the art had already been taken when he objected to its proposed transfer. Most of the evacuated paintings were subsequently found near Bolzano by the U.S. Fifth Army in May 1945.
One picture from the same villa, Jan van Huysum’s Vase of Flowers, finally returned to the Palazzo Pitti in 2019. That recovery shows how long a dispersed work can remain away from its collection. The small copper Madonna is a separate object, and the foundation continues to list it as missing.
Artwork Details & DocumentationIdentification, ownership history and supporting records
Individual artwork identification details have not yet been documented in this record. Missing specifications are not inferred from the photograph or report headline.
Not documented in this record: object type · materials & technique · measurements · inscriptions & markings · distinguishing features · artwork title · maker / attribution · creation date / period · subject.
Record sources
Identification details follow the Object ID categories where documented. Ownership history is recorded separately; this documentation is not an authentication or a certificate of ownership.
Documentary sources
- Monuments Men and Women Foundation · Wartime loss dossier ↗
- Uffizi Galleries · Return of a different painting taken from the same villa ↗
An original ArtTraceX synthesis. Sources checked .