The painting was found at an American auction website by a Polish expert in art who informed the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
It took the ministry as much as a year and a half to recover the painting but its efforts were successful and on Wednesday, 16 April, the work of art was officially returned to Poland.
After some restoration works, the painting will return to the St. Martin Church in Sinice. The worshippers will soon be able to admire it in the vestibule of the church from which it was stolen in the late 1980's - early 1990's.
Valuable, even though not painted by Willmann
Contrary to what some mass media have stated, the "Ascension of Christ" was not painted by one of the disciples of Willmann, who is sometimes referred to as "Silesian Rembrandt". "It displays some characteristics of Willmann's style of painting, namely the composition and the method of painting, which demonstrates the strong influence of his works on others. However, the painting was painted later, in the late 1730's or early 1740's, while Willmann died in 1706. Also, the colours of the painting are Rococo-style", said Dr. Piotr Oszczanowski, Director of the National Museum in Wroclaw. It is possible that the author of the painting is the Czech painter Ignaz Axter, but we are not sure.
Piotr Oszczanowski emphasized that the recovery of the painting is a reason for joy, like the recovery of any lost historical artefact from Lower Silesia. "Every original work that is nearly 300 years old is very valuable. The fact that the painting will be returned to the place for which it was created and where it stayed for ages is priceless."
In his opinion, the information about the recovery of the painting will also have a preventive effect. "Thieves must know that it is now easy to find every stolen work of art", he added.
Eliza Głowicka
