A massive 19th century oil painting of Ivan the Terrible, the first czar of Russia, was returned to its rightful owners on Monday, after its disappearance from a Ukrainian museum more than 75 years ago during World War II. The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., Valeriy Chaly, accepted the painting on behalf of the people of Ukraine during a ceremony at a fine arts auction house outside of Washington, D.C.
"The damage from the theft of this painting really cannot be quantified," said Jessie Liu, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. "There are generations of people who weren't able to see this painting. We hope that the repatriation of the painting is the first step in remedying that harm." In 1941, Nazis looted Mikhail N. Panin's "Secret Departure of Ivan the Terrible before the Oprichnina" from the Dnepropetrovsk Art Museum during Germany's occupation of Ukraine. The 64-square-foot painting portrays the Russian czar fleeing the Kremlin on horseback.
Gabby and Tracy purchased a home in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1987. Unaware of the painting's history, the Tracys enjoyed the painting until 2017, when they decided to sell the artwork. As the painting was being prepared for auction, an employee of the auction house, Potomack Company, discovered the artwork's true origins, which were later confirmed in an email sent by the director of the Dnepropetrovsk Art Museum.
It's hard to imagine this could have come as a greater surprise to Tracy, whose own father died in a concentration camp. She lived in a Jewish ghetto until the Soviet liberation. Tracy eventually fled to the U.S. as a refugee with her sister and brother in 1947. "We're very happy to give it back to the Ukrainian people, and I hope one day we go there and see it hanging in the Ukrainian museum. And the terrible history damaged many things, which made us return the painting," she said during the repatriation ceremony.
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