French Museum’s ‘Wanted’ Poster Campaign Leads to Return of Stolen Duyster Painting

A 17th-century painting by Dutch artist Willem Cornelisz Duyster, stolen from the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans in 1940, has been located at an auction house in Switzerland and is now on its way back to France. The discovery was made possible by the museum’s creative “Wanted” poster campaign, which uses humor to draw attention to the approximately 350 artworks looted from the Musée Paul Fourché, an annex of the Beaux-Arts museum, after the city was attacked by Nazis in June 1940.

The painting, titled Un Buveur (The Drinker), was found last month in the catalog for an October 17 sale at the Gloggner auction house in Lucerne. It had been estimated at about $3,400 and was thought to be a study of the original. The campaign, which features black-and-white images of lost artworks under a bold “WANTED” headline in an American Old Western font, was shared on social media and the museum’s website, and is supported by a two-year-old digital catalog of the stolen works.

The return of Un Buveur demonstrates how public awareness campaigns and digital catalogs can translate into concrete recoveries for museums seeking looted art.

A local from Orléans who saw the posters decided to spend his free time searching for the missing paintings. While randomly sifting through online auctions, he came across Un Buveur in the Swiss sale catalog. The museum was tipped off and contacted the auction house, which immediately cooperated and “was very transparent throughout,” said Olivia Voisin, the museum’s director. After Voisin presented the painting’s holder with an image of the original superimposed on a digital image of their painting, they saw it was a perfect match. The holder had purchased it from a London auction house in the 1990s.

“The possessor of the work immediately agreed to restitute it at no cost,” Voisin said. “He immediately proposed to restitute the painting. It was pretty natural for him to return it, because he felt that he had been able to enjoy it for 35 years, and it was time for it to go home.” The painting is currently being held in customs at the French border.

Un Buveur is considered one of Duyster’s finest works and represents the museum’s stolen collection, which once held several similar 17th-century Dutch paintings depicting scenes of revelry. However, the painting appears to be damaged by several layers of overpainting and cleaning attempts. If in good condition, Voisin estimated it to be worth between €25,000 and €30,000 ($28,000 to $33,600).

The Orléans museum has been trying for years to recover artworks lost during World War II, with little luck. To date, 424 paintings are still missing from its collection, including works by Édouard Manet, Hans Holbein the Younger, Anthony van Dyck, Lorenzo Costa, and one attributed to Raphael’s Renaissance workshop. Since the creation of the digital catalog and the “Wanted” poster campaign, four paintings, including Un Buveur, have been returned over the past few years.