A round painting by the Flemish-Dutch master Pieter Bruegel the Younger, stolen from a Polish museum in 1974, has been located in the Dutch province of Limburg. Dutch police, aided by journalists and renowned art detective Arthur Brand, have confirmed the discovery. The painting, “Woman Carrying the Embers”, was completed by Bruegel around 1626.
It was originally taken, alongside another work, Anthony van Dyck’s sketch “The Crucifixion”, from the National Museum in Gdańsk. The art depicts a peasant woman carrying smoldering embers with tongs in one hand and a cauldron in the other, set in a sunlit rural scene. Arthur Brand, celebrated for his previous remarkable recoveries, described the tale as “nuts.” He detailed how the secret police in communist Poland might have played a role in the theft and the mysterious death of a witness in the case.
Archival Polish records indicate the theft occurred overnight on April 21, 1974, a Sunday. Museum staff noticing discrepancies with the hanging took days until a cleaning lady accidentally knocked the frame from the wall, revealing a magazine reproduction beneath broken glass. Initially shocked, the staff soon realized they were dealing with a theft.
Painting recovered from Dutch museum
Local police investigations revealed that the burglars had entered via construction scaffolding through a second-floor window. Suspicion also briefly fell on a young couple observed cutting a picture out from a magazine in a library weeks earlier, though they were never tracked down.
Romuald Werner, a customs officer who had reported suspected illegal art exports, was called to testify but was found dead just days later, sidetracking the investigation, which was then taken over and closed by Poland’s Security Service. Despite a resumed investigation by Polish police in 2008, spearheaded by the National Museum in Gdańsk, no significant progress was made until recently. The breakthrough came when John Brozius, a reporter for a Dutch magazine, spotted the painting in an exhibition at the Museum Gouda.
Comparing with archival images, Brozius and Brand identified the painting as the stolen “Woman Carrying the Embers”. Brand contacted the museum to secure the painting, and subsequent confirmation from Polish authorities confirmed it as the original stolen work. Brand emphasized the serendipity of the incident, noting how close the painting came to being permanently lost.
Legal proceedings are now underway to ensure the painting’s return to the National Museum in Gdańsk.