Painting stolen in second world war heading from US back to Ukraine
- Connecticut couple had the piece in their home for years and thought it was a fake but cherished it anyway, spending US$37,000 on an extension to house it
A painting that was stolen during the second world war then spent decades in an American home will be returned to an art museum in Ukraine.
Standing nearly 2.4 metres (eight feet) tall, the painting shows 16th century Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible fleeing the Kremlin on horseback. It had been left in a Ridgefield home that David Tracy bought in 1987.
David and his wife Gabby thought it was a copy. The previous owners said the painting was already there when they bought the house from a Swiss man in 1962.
When Tracy and his wife moved, they paid US$37,000 to add a sunroom big enough to display the painting.
“This painting was a beautiful painting, and we treasured it,” said 84-year-old Gabby Tracy.
But as they planned a move to a condominium in Maine last year, they realised it would not fit so were going to auction it for about US$5,000.