The painting, created around 1626, disappeared from the National Museum in Gdańsk, northern Poland, in 1974.
The French Press Agency (AFP) quotes Dutch art detective Arthur Brand as saying that suspicions were first raised when journalists from the leading Dutch art magazine Vind noticed the piece at Museum Gouda last year, where it was listed as a loan from a private collection. Brand told AFP that Vind contributor John Brozius came across an article on a Polish website about a 1974 theft in Gdańsk, in which two artworks were stolen: The Crucifixion, a sketch by Anthony van Dyck, and the Brueghel painting.
Richard Bronswijk of the Dutch police's art crime unit told AFP: "We are 100 percent sure that the painting on display in Gouda is the same one that disappeared from the National Museum in Gdańsk in 1974."
According to Polish sources, the theft was discovered on April 24, 1974, when a museum worker accidentally knocked the Brueghel off the wall, revealing that a reproduction had been placed in the frame instead of the original.
The investigation was soon abandoned, with speculation suggesting that Poland’s communist secret services were involved in the theft and the painting’s illegal export.
Dutch police have informed Polish authorities about the discovery, and legal proceedings are now underway to secure its return to the Gdańsk museum.
Paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger are valued at millions of dollars.
(m k/m p)
Source: AFP/IAR