Art looted by Nazis returned to Jewish family

A 17th-century painting by Henry Gibbs that was looted by the Nazis and has been in the Tate collection in the UK for the past 31 years is to be returned to the descendants of a Jewish art collector.

- Harriet Sherwood

Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Burning Troy was stolen from a gallery in Antwerp, Belgium, after its owner, Samuel Hartveld, was forced to flee in May 1940, eight months after the start of the second world war.

It will be returned to Hartveld's great-grandchildren after a decision by the Spoliation Advisory Panel, which considers claims regarding Nazi-looted artworks now in a UK public collection.

The 1654 painting depicts scenes from The Aeneid, a poem telling the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The painting shows Aeneas trying to rescue his family from the burning city.