FBI recovers 17th-century painting looted by Nazis from Stern collection

A 1630 painting by Dutch Caravaggist Jan Franse Verzijl, titled 'Un giovane come Bacco', has been recovered by the FBI and will be restituted to the Max Stern Restitution Project. The work belonged to the Stern collection, amassed by Jewish art dealer Julius Stern, who founded Galerie Stern in Düsseldorf in 1913. After Julius's death, his son Max Stern was forced by the Nazi regime to liquidate his gallery and flee Germany in December 1937. Under government pressure, he auctioned his collection, but 28 unsold lots were confiscated by the Gestapo. Max Stern spent years trying to trace his lost artworks, offering rewards. He died in 1987. In 2005, his heirs established the Max Stern Restitution Project, with support from the US, German, and Canadian governments. Several masterpieces by Bruegel, Bosch, and Ludovico Carracci have been recovered through moral persuasion rather than legal action. The Verzijl painting was later purchased at a New York fair by the owners of Turin gallery Caretto & Occhinegro. When contacted by US authorities, the gallerists voluntarily donated the painting. It will be displayed at the Jewish Museum in New York as part of the Stern family's practice of lending recovered works to public institutions. The heirs continue their search for the remaining lost collection.