Impressive panel stolen was again discovered hanging on the wall of a peripheral Dutch museum Thanks to the efforts of a detective art and antique magazine.

Peter Brigel’s 17cm wide 17cm panel depicting the wife of a farmer with charcoal in one hand and a bucket of water in the other is believed to have been stolen by a Polish Museum by intelligence agents in 1974.

Arthur Brad, art detective who confirmed that the table is now in the Netherlands said: ‘Normally, when a project is lost for half a century, you do not recover it in many cases. As time goes on, the more likely you are not to see it again … It was a pure luck that everything came into place. “

The 17th century painting, a masterpiece of Flemish art, was hanged at the National Museum in Gdansk, Poland, when on April 24, 1974, a cleaner hit him on the wall, the frame broke and discovered that the painting had been replaced with a photo. A sketch of Flemish artist Anthony Van Dick entitled “The Crucifixion” had also been changed by copy.

The two paintings entered the list of artwork that Poland was looking for until last year, the Dutch magazine for art and antique Vind (Find) wrote about a new exhibition at the Gouda Museum and that Brigel’s painting was borrowed from a private collector. The authors of the magazine identified a black and white photo of the painting in Poland and contacted Brad to ask if it could be the same one included in the Gouda Museum’s exhibition.

After finding five similar paintings by Flemish painter and contacted the Dutch and Polish police and the museum, Brad found him – and Poland has now officially called for the return of the artwork.

“It’s very impressive,” Brad said. “And the story behind him is also quite spectacular. It’s an excellent moment because of it means so much to Poland – it’s on the list of paintings it has been looking for for 50 years. “he said in his statements to the Guardian.