Claim Resolution

Resolution: Work restituted to heirs or other representatives

Resolution Date: November 18, 2004

On November 18, 2004, the MFA deaccessioned the panel painting Virgin and Child for restitution to its rightful owner, Mrs. Anna Konopka Unrug of Poland. This was in response to the restitution claim for the painting received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland on behalf of Mrs. Unrug. The painting once formed the central panel of a triptych that belonged to Mrs. Unrug’s grandfather, Tadeusz Konopka (b. 1844 – d. 1903), and was passed by descent to his son, Józef (b. 1884 –d . 1940) of Jaroslaw and Warsaw. Józef was killed in 1940 after being taken hostage by the Red Army. The painting remained in his Warsaw apartment, where his wife Helena (b. 1899) and daughter Anna (b. 1921) lived, and was plundered during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. It is not known when the triptych was separated; neither of the side panels has been located. The MFA purchased the painting in 1970 from a dealer in Frankfurt, Germany, without knowledge of its wartime or immediate postwar provenance. At that time it was attributed to the Master of the Saint Barbara Altar, a Silesian painter active in the fifteenth century. Research by curatorial staff revealed that it had been in Tadeusz Konopka’s possession and remained in Poland during World War II. This information was made available on the MFA Web site, which enabled the claimant, through the Polish Ambassador, to locate the painting.