A painting by prominent 19th-century Polish artist Aleksander Gierymski that went missing during World War Two has been returned to Poland.

The painting, Jewish Woman Selling Oranges, was taken from the National Museum in Warsaw during the final months of the war.

But the oil-on-canvas painting re-surfaced last November when it was among items put up for auction in Germany. It was withdrawn from the sale after an intervention by Poland's Culture Ministry, which negotiated the return of the painting with the German owner.

Polskie Radio reports that Gierymski painted the canvas during a stay in Warsaw from 1880 to 188. Gierymski, considered one of the forerunners of Polish Impressionism, died in 1901 at the age of 51.