A painting by 18th-century Venetian artist Francesco Guardi that was stolen by the Nazis for Adolf Hitler's 'Fuehrer Museum' was returned by Germany to Poland on Monday.

It was likely a gesture by Germany to facilitate the return of some 300,000 books, drawings and manuscripts — known as the Berlinka collection — from Poland. German troops left the collection behind after retreating from what is now Poland where it was being held for safekeeping.

Guardi's  "Palace Stairs" was stolen from the National Museum in Warsaw in 1939. At the end of World War II, the painting went to the University of Heidelberg and then to the State Gallery of Baden-Wuerttemberg before its provenance was revealed in the 1990s. Strained relations between the countries has delayed the return of looted artworks.

Poland has long sought the restitution of its public and private art collections looted during the war, although many missing artworks are presumed destroyed.