On September 14 at the National Museum in Warsaw, the U.S. Embassy, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and Homeland Security Investigations celebrated the return to Poland of the 1628 painting “Portrait of a Lady.” The painting was stolen by the Nazis from the National Museum in Warsaw during World War II and ended up in the United States. Once the private collectors, Craig Gilmore and David Crocker, who purchased the piece of art from an auction house learned of its troubled provenance, they graciously relinquished the painting so it could be returned to its rightful home in the National Museum in Warsaw. Ambassador Georgette Mosbacher joined First Deputy Prime Minster Piotr Gliński and National Museum Director Piotr Rypson at the repatriation event where the officials heralded the return and successful cooperation between Poland and the United States. Ambassador Mosbacher specifically thanked Deputy Prime Minsiter Gliński for the unparalleled working relationship between the Ministry of Culture and U.S. law enforcement. She also singled out the private American collectors who attended the ceremony, calling their relinquishing of the art “a truly magnanimous gesture.”
