A 15th-century gold-ground altar panel that was stolen from York Art Gallery in 1979 is set to be returned, thanks to the keen eye of an auction house researcher.

Known as a Nuremberg School panel and dating from around 1480, it’s double-sided and depicts saints important to the Bavarian town of Nuremberg. The panel was one half of a pair donated to the institution in 1955 by F.D. Lycett Green and was due to be sold at Duke’s Auctions, England, before similarities with its York counterpart were spotted.

The auction house decided to pull the lot at the last minute and ask The Art Loss Register, the world’s largest private database of stolen art, to investigate the panel further. The register, which worked on a pro-bono basis, promptly concluded that the panel painting was the very one that had been stolen from the Yorkshire gallery nearly 45 years ago.

Nuremberg School panel showing St Lawrence, St Sebald of Nuremberg, and the Angel Gabriel. Photo: courtesy Duke’s Auction.

“We work a lot with [The Art Loss Register] to identify stolen pieces of art and regularly cross check all auction catalogues to make sure no pieces are marked as stolen on their database,” Guy Schwinge, a partner at Duke’s, told Artnet News.

Duke’s had come to auction off the panel after examining the contents of a house in the Southampton area, but the vendor knew nothing of the panel’s background, having inherited it from her father. Schwinge believes the original collector most likely bought it at a market or an auction house without knowing its provenance.

“We told the daughter that the painting was stolen 50 years ago and she was quite happy that it was simply returned to the museum,” Schwinge said. “No money changed hands at all. We are so grateful to her for being so straightforward about it.

After being transported north, the panel will be checked and conserved by York Art Gallery specialists before being reunited with its sister piece.

“We are delighted that this piece has been found and returned to York Art Gallery,” Morgan Feely, a Senior Curator at York Art Gallery said in a statement.

More Trending Stories:  

Is TikTok Trying to Cancel Salvador Dalí? Why Art Historians on the Platform Are Denouncing the ‘Problematic’ Surrealist Icon 

Why Andy Warhol’s ‘Prince’ Is Actually Bad, and the Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith Decision Is Actually Good 

The Art Angle Podcast: James Murdoch on His Vision for Art Basel and the Future of Culture 

Art Advisor Maria Vogel Hosts Art-Inspired Dinner Parties, Cherishes Handwritten Notes, and Keeps an Eye Out for Overlooked Women Artists 

A Palatial Home by Frank Lloyd Wright—With a Circular Design Echoing His Guggenheim Museum—Has Hit the Market for $8 Million 

Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, and Other ‘Asteroid City’ Stars Respond to the Viral Wes Anderson TikTok Trend With Their Own Parody 

A British Couple Actually Paid Nearly $250,000 to Remove a Banksy Mural From Their Building Due to the ‘Extremely Stressful’ Upkeep 

Archaeologists in Hungary Have Uncovered the Remains of an Ancient Roman Doctor Alongside His Surgical Toolkit 

The World’s First A.I.-Generated Statue, Cobbling Together the Styles of Five Celebrated Sculptors, Has Landed in a Swedish Museum 

Meet the Young Collectors Calling the Shots at the Guggenheim, a Highly Placed Art Worlder’s Anti-Woke Tweets, and More Art World Gossip 

An Extraordinary Wristwatch Belonging to the Last Emperor of China Just Sold for $6.2 Million, Setting Multiple Auction Records 

A Sculpture Depicting King Tut as a Black Man Is Sparking International Outrage 

Archaeologists Have Found a 3,000-Year-Old Bakery in Armenia, After Realizing a Layer of Ash Was Actually Wheat Flour 

Why the Supreme Court’s Decision in the Andy Warhol Copyright Case Shows the Dangers of a Sympathy Vote 

An Exhibition of Taylor Swift’s Stuff Has Just Opened at the Museum of Arts and Design. Here Are 5 Must-See Displays, Swifties