Beloved Brit Painting Once Owned by Hitler

Venus image now in National Gallery also hung in his apartment
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 28, 2008 11:17 AM CDT
Beloved Brit Painting Once Owned by Hitler
Adolf Hitler's love of art is well known but his taste has been questioned. It has been revealed he once owned a painting that hangs in London's National Gallery and which may have been stolen from a Jewish collector.    (AP Photo)

A nude painting of Venus on display in London's National Gallery for 45 years—one of the gallery's most popular works—turns out to have been once owned by Adolf Hitler. The whimsical Cupid Complaining to Venus, by German master Lucas Cranach, was given to Hitler by a prominent Nazi and hung in his apartment in Munich, the Guardian reports.

The painting may have been looted from a Jewish collector. It would have to be returned to the owners' heirs if they can be traced. The painting's grim provenance came to light recently when a scholar found a catalog of Hitler's private art collection in the National Archives in Washington. (More Lucas Cranach stories.)

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