Raphael's 'Portrait of a Young Man': Nazi Theft Mystery
About the book
This true crime book tackles one of art history's most enigmatic crimes: the theft of Raphael's 'Portrait of a Young Man' during World War II, tracing the trail left by the Nazis' systematic looting of art.
Raphael's Renaissance masterpiece vanished from the Czartoryski Museum in Poland in 1939, when the Nazis invaded the country. The painting, one of the most valuable works of art in Polish hands, was stolen along with countless other cultural treasures as part of the Nazis' organized plunder of Europe.
The book digs into the vast network of art theft carried out by the Nazis during the war. Hitler and Göring harbored grand ambitions to gather Europe's finest art in German museums and private collections. Works were stolen from both public institutions and Jewish families.
Raphael's portrait remains missing to this day, and countless theories swirl around its fate. Was it destroyed in the chaos of war? Is it hidden away in a private collection? Or does it still lie concealed somewhere unknown?
The hunt for the missing artwork continues, and the book sheds light on both the historical crime and the modern-day investigators still chasing the lost masterpiece.
