Raphael's Lost Portrait of a Young Man: A WWII Mystery and a €100 Million Acquisition

Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man, created around 1513-1514, vanished in 1945 and remains one of the most significant artworks lost during World War II. The painting was stolen by Nazis from the Princes Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, Poland, where it was part of a collection including Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine and Rembrandt's Landscape with the Good Samaritan. These works were hidden in Sieniawa, Poland, but discovered by Nazis two weeks later; they were displayed at Hans Frank's residence in Krakow before being sent to Berlin and Dresden for Hitler's planned Linz collection. In August 1944, Leonardo and Rembrandt were moved to Sichów, Lower Silesia, but Raphael's portrait's presence there is unconfirmed. Hans Frank was arrested by Allies in May 1945, and while the other two paintings were recovered from his villa, Raphael's was not. The 2014 film The Monuments Men depicts its destruction in a cave, though no evidence supports this. Speculation suggests it might be in private collections in Germany, the United States, Switzerland, or Russia. The subject's identity is unverified, with some scholars considering it a self-portrait, and only black-and-white photos exist, leaving its colors unknown. In 2016, the Polish state purchased the Czartoryski collection for €100 million, including rights to the missing Raphael, with experts valuing the painting at over $100 million if found. The collection is now part of the National Museum in Krakow, where an empty original frame awaits the portrait's return.