In early August 2012, representatives of the Polish government, in communication with the press, reported several times that a painting by the Italian artist Rafael Santi had been found. Art critics call it "Portrait of a Young Man" and consider it the most valuable piece of art lost during the Second World War.
In 1798, the painting was bought by the Polish prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski and has since belonged to his family. Experts attribute the painting time to 1513 or 1514. Who exactly is depicted on it is unknown, but some art historians suggest that this is a self-portrait of the great Italian. By the time of the Nazi occupation of Poland, the painting was kept in the Krakow Museum. Together with other treasures of the Czartoryski family, including the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci "Lady with an Ermine", in 1939 it was confiscated by the Germans for Hitler's personal museum in Linz (Fuhrermuseum). The latest information about the painting is dated 1945.
According to information available to the press in mid-August 2012, there are no details about how exactly the painting of the great artist was found. Moreover, from the interviews that the officials have given so far, it becomes clear that they also know very few details in this story. The only concrete information about the current state of the missing canvas came from the statement of the press representative of the Polish department for the return of cultural property at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said that Raphael's painting is kept in one of the bank vaults, but the ministry does not know the cell number, the name of the bank, or even the country in which it is located. Therefore, the statement that the painting has been found looks somewhat premature. Indeed, even after the painting is in the hands of representatives of the state or the previous owner (the Czartoryski family), specialists will have to work for many months to establish the authenticity of the painting.
However, it is possible that this premature statement is part of some kind of game of intelligence services or diplomats, which is being played with the aim of returning such a valuable work of art to Poland. Until now, only a very small fraction of the cultural property lost by Poles during World War II has been voluntarily returned to its current owners.
