French Museum Launches Wanted Campaign for 424 WWII-Looted Paintings

The Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans has launched a public campaign to locate 424 paintings missing since World War II. The initiative uses a 'wanted' poster aesthetic, circulating images of lost works on social media and the museum's website to enlist citizens, collectors, and art professionals in identification efforts. Among the highlighted pieces is a portrait of Charles-Nicolas Cochin by Jean Siméon Chardin, stolen during the German invasion of Orléans in 1940. The disappearances stem from a Nazi attack that burned and looted an annex of the museum, with hundreds of 16th- to 19th-century paintings lost. Other works vanished later through loans to French public bodies. Missing artists include Raphael's workshop, Édouard Manet, Lorenzo Costa, Hans Holbein the Younger, and Anthony van Dyck. Over the past two years, the museum compiled a comprehensive catalog of missing pieces, a tool previously lacking according to director Olivia Voisin. Recent efforts have already recovered three paintings through different channels. The campaign offers no financial reward, appealing instead to public interest and collective responsibility for cultural heritage.