Art detective and magazine help crack case of Flemish masterpiece thought to have been stolen by Polish agents

A “spectacular” stolen Flemish masterpiece has been rediscovered hanging on the walls of a provincial Dutch museum thanks to the efforts of an art detective and an antiques magazine.

The 17cm-wide painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger of a farmer’s wife with hot coals in one hand and a bucket of water in the other is thought to have been stolen from a Polish museum by secret service agents in 1974.